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Presented 


flit  @hcoloi)irj(/ 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


by  \e,r\  y-v>\  vM  .T^ctvoVc' 


Division 


33FI5G5 

q  ft 


Section  • 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/narrativesofsorcOOwrig_O 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC, 


/rant  tlit  most  Mitirfic  Imittts. 


BY 


THOMAS  WRIGHT,  M.A.,  F.S.A., 

CORRESPONDING  MEMBER  OF  THE  NATIONAL  INSTITUTE  OF  FRANCE, 
(ACADEMIE  DES  INSCRIPTIONS  ET  BELLES  LETTRES.) 


redfield, 

CLINTON  HALL,  NEW  YORK. 

1852. 


TO 


LORD  LONDESBOROUGH. 


My  Lord  :  The  interest  which  your  lordship  has  always  taken 
in  historical  studies,  has  encouraged  me  to  offer  to  you  this  vol¬ 
ume  of  what  may  be  truly  considered  as  the  dark  features  of 
history.  It  appears  to  me  that  these  are  features  on  which  some¬ 
times  at  least  we  ought  to  dwell,  and  which  it  has  been  too  much 
the  fashion  with  historical  writers  to  conceal  from  view,  and  I 
am  not  sure  if  we  are  not  at  this  moment  suffering  from  the  re¬ 
sults  of  that  concealment.  It  is  true  that  if,  in  tracing  the  his¬ 
tory  of  declining  Rome,  we  pass  gently  over  the  crimes  of  a 
Caligula  or  a  Commodus,  if  we  show  the  bright  side  of  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  middle  ages  and  hide  their  viciousness  and  brutality, 
if  we  tell  the  story  of  Romanism  without  its  arrogance,  its  per¬ 
secutions,  and  its  massacres,  or  if  we  attempt  to  trace  the  prog¬ 
ress  of  society  from  darkness  to  light,  without  entering  into  the 
details  of  those  strange  hallucinations  which  have  at  times  dis¬ 
figured  and  impeded  it — such  as  are  related  in  the  following  nar¬ 
ratives —  in  acting  thus  we  spare  the  reader  much  that  is  horri¬ 
ble  and  revolting  to  his  better  feelings,  but  at  the  same  time  time 
we  destroy  the  moral  and  utility  of  history  itself. 

If  I  mistake  not,  the  history  presented  in  this  volume  furnishes 
more  than  any  other,  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
public  mind  may,  under  particular  circumstances,  be  acted  upon 
by  erroneous  views.  The  paganism  of  our  forefathers,  instead 
of  being  eradicated  by  papal  Rome,  was  preserved  as  a  useful 
instrument  ol  power,  and  fostered  until  it  grew  into  a  monster  far 
more  fearful  and  degrading  than  the  original  from  which  it  sprung, 


G 


LORD  LONDESBOROUGH. 


and  infinitely  more  cruel  in  its  influence.  It  is  the  object  of  the 
following  detached  histories  to  exhibit  the  character  and  forms 
under  which,,  at  various  different  periods,  the  superstitions  of 
sorcery  and  magic  affected  the  progress,  or  interfered  with  the 
peace  of  society.  At  first  they  appeared  as  the  mere,  almost 
unobserved,  fables  of  the  vulgar — then  they  were  seized  upon  as 
an  arm  of  the  ecclesiastical  power,  to  crush  those  who  dared  to 
question  the  spiritual  doctrines,  or  oppose  the  temporal  power  of 
the  papal  church.  From  this  time  sorcery  makes  its  appearance 
more  frequently  in  history,  until  it  gained  that  hold  on  the  minds 
of  all  classes  which  led  to  the  fearful  persecutions  of  the  six¬ 
teenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  design  of  this  volume  to  enter  into  a  dis¬ 
quisition  on  what  have  been  termed  the  occult  sciences,  nor  do 
I  pretend  to  give  a  regular  history  of  witchcraft.  I  have  merely 
attempted  to  show  the  influence  which  superstition  once  exer¬ 
cised  on  the  history  of  the  world,  by  a  few  narratives  taken  from 
the  annals  of  past  ages,  of  events  which  seemed  to  place  it  in 
its  strongest  and  clearest  light.  For  these  sketches,  thrown  to¬ 
gether  somewhat  hastily,  and  gathered  from  a  field  of  research 
which  has  always  had  great  attractions  for  me,  I  venture  to  claim 
from  your  lordship  an  indulgence  which  will  be  the  more  valued 
from  the  appreciation  which  I  know  that  these  studies  have 
aways  received  from  you ;  and  I  have  only  to  hope  for  the  same 
indulgence  from  the  public  at  large. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  my  lord,  with  sincere  respect, 

Your  lordship’s  very  faithful  servant, 

Thomas  Wright. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. — Introduction . page  9 

Chapter  II.— Story  of  the  Lady  Alice  Kyteler  ...  23 

Chapter  III. — Further  Political  Usage  of  the  Belief  in  Sorcery. — 

The  Templars . 33 

Chapter  IY. — Sorcery  in  France. — The  Citizens  of  Arras  .  47 

Chapter  V. — The  Lord  of  Mirebeau  and  Pierre  d’Estaing  the 

Alchemist  . 58 

Chapter  YI. — The  early  Medieval  Type  of  the  Sorcerer ;  Vir¬ 
gil  the  Enchanter . 67 

Chapter  YII. — The  latter  Medieval  Types  of  the  Magician; 

Friar  Bacon  and  Dr.  Faustus . 80 

Chapter  VIII. — Sorcery  in  Germany  in  the  Fifteenth  Century ; 

the  Malleus  Maleficarum . 92 

Chapter  IX. — Witchcraft  in  Scotland  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  103 
Chapter  X.— King  James  and  the  Witches  of  Lothian  .  .  115 

Chapter  XI. — Magic  in  England  during  the  Age  of  the  Refor¬ 
mation  .  ,  .  126 

Chapter  XII.— The  English  Magicians ;  Dr.  Dee  and  his  Fol¬ 
lowers  . . 

Chapter  XIII. — The  Witches  of  Warboys  ....  159 

Chapter  XIV. — The  Poetry  of  Witchcraft  ....  173 
Chapter  XV.— Witchcraft  in  France  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  185 
Chapter  XVI.— Pierre  d^Lancre  and  the  Witches  of  Labourd  197 
Chapter  XVII.— Magic  in  Spain  ;  the  Auto-da-fe  of  Logrono  207 
Chapter  XVIII. — Adventures  of  Doctor  Torralva  .  .  216 

Chapter  XIX. — Trial  of  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Somerset  224 

Chapter  XX. — La  Marechal  d’Ancre . 241 

Chapter  XXL — Louis  Gaufridi . 248 


8 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  XXII. — The  Ursulines  of  Loudun  .  .  page  256 

Chapter  XXIII. — The  Lancashire  Witches  .  .  .  266 

Chapter  XXIV. — Witchcraft  in  England  during  the  earlier  part 

of  the  Seventeenth  Century . 286 

Chapter  XXV. — Witchcraft  under  the  Commonwealth  ;  Mat¬ 
thew  Hopkins  the  Witch-Finder . 302 

Chapter  XXVI. — Witchcraft  in  Germany  in  the  earlier  part  of 

the  Seventeenth  Century . 324 

Chapter  XXVII. — The  Witches  of  Scotland  under  King  James 

after  his  Accession  to  the  English  Throne  .  .  .  334 
Chapter  XXVIII. — Confessions  of  Isobel  Gowdie  .  .  .  350 

Chapter  XXIX. — The  Witches  of  Mohra  in  Sweden  .  .  362 
Chapter  XXX. — Sir  Matthew  Hale  and  Chief-Justice  Holt  .  372 
Chapter  XXXI. — The  Doings  of  Satan  in  New  England  .  385 

Chapter  XXXII. — Conclusion . 404 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

If  the  universality  of  a  belief  be  a  proof  of  its  truth,  few 
creeds  have  been  better  established  than  that  of  sorcery.  Every 
people,  from  the  rudest  to  the  most  refined,  we  may  almost  add 
in  every  age,  have  believed  in  the  kind  of  supernatural  agency 
which  we  understand  by  this  term.  It  was  founded  on  the 
equally  extensive  creed,  that,  besides  our  own  visible  exis¬ 
tence,  we  live  in  an  invisible  world  of  spiritual  beings,  by  which 
our  actions  and  even  our  thoughts  are  often  guided,  and  which 
have  a  certain  degree  of  power  over  the  elements  and  over  the 
ordinary  course  of  organic  life.  Many  of  these  powerful  beings 
were  supposed  to  be  enemies  of  mankind,  fiendish  creatures 
which  thirsted  after  human  blood,  or  demons  whose  constant 
business  it  was  to  tempt  and  seduce  their  victim,  and  deprive  him 
of  the  hope  of  salvation.  These  beings  were  themselves  sub¬ 
ject  to  certain  mysterious  influences,  and  became  the  slaves  even 
of  mortals,  when  by  their  profound  penetration  into  the  secrets 
of  nature  they  obtained  a  knowledge  of  those  influences.  But 
more  frequently  their  intercourse  with  man  was  voluntary,  and 
the  services  they  rendered  him  were  only  intended  to  draw  him 
to  a  more  certain  destruction.  It  is  a  dark  subject  for  investiga¬ 
tion  ;  and  we  will  not  pretend  to  decide  whether,  and  how  far, 
a  higher  Providence  may,  in  some  cases,  have  permitted  such 
intercourse  between  the  natural  and  supernatural  world.  Yet  the 


10 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


superstitions  to  which  this  creed  gave  rise  have  exerted  a  mighty 
influence  on  society,  through  ages,  which  it  is  far  from  uninter¬ 
esting  to  trace  in  its  outward  manifestations. 

The  belief  of  which  we  are  treating  manifested  itself  under 
two  different  forms,  sorcery  and  magic.  The  magician  differed 
from  the  witch,  in  this,  that,  while  the  latter  was  an  ignorant  in¬ 
strument  in  the  hands  of  the  demons,  the  former  had  become 
their  master  by  the  powerful  intermediation  of  a  science  which 
was  only  within  the  reach  of  the  few,  and  which  these  beings 
were  unable  to  disobey.  In  the  earlier  ages,  this  mysterious  sci¬ 
ence  flourished  widely,  and  there  were  noted  schools  of  magic 
in  several  parts  of  Europe.  One  of  the  most  famous  was  that 
of  Toledo  in  Spain,  nearly  on  the  confines  which  divided  Chris¬ 
tendom  from  Islam,  on  that  spiritual  neutral  ground  where  the 
demon  might  then  bid  defiance  tp  the  gospel  or  the  Koran.  It 
was  in  this  school  that  Gerbert,  in  the  tenth  century,  is  said  to 
have  obtained  his  marvellous  proficiency  in  knowledge  forbidden 
by  the  church.  Gerbert  lived  at  Toledo,  in  the  house  of  a  cel¬ 
ebrated  Arabian  philosopher,  whose  book  of  magic,  or  “  grimoire,” 
had  unusual  power  in  coercing  the  evil  one.  Gerbert  was  seized 
with  an  ardent  desire  of  possessing  this  book,  but  the  Saracen 
would  not  part  with  it  for  love  or  money,  and,  lest  it  might  be 
stolen  from  him,  he  concealed  it  under  his  pillow  at  night.  The 
Saracen  had  a  beautiful  daughter ;  and  Gerbert,  as  the  last  re¬ 
source,  gave  his  love  to  the  maiden,  and  in  a  moment  of  amo¬ 
rous  confidence  learned  from  her  where  the  book  was  concealed. 
He  made  the  philosopher  drunk,  stole  the  grimoire,  and  took  to 
flight.  The  magician  followed  him,  and  was  enabled,  by  con¬ 
sulting  the  stars,  to  know  where  he  was,  either  on  earth  or  wa¬ 
ter.  But  Gerbert  at  last  baffled  him,  by  hanging  under  a  bridge 
in  such  a  manner  that  he  touched  neither  one  element  nor  the 
other,  and  finally  arrived  in  safety  on  the  seashore.  Here  he 
opened  his  book,  and  by  its  powerful  enchantment  called  up  the 
arch  fiend  himself,  who  at  his  orders  carried  him  in  safety  to  the 
opposite  coast. 

The  science  of  the  magician  was  dangerous,  but  not  necessa¬ 
rily  fatal,  to  his  salvation.  The  possession  of  one  object  led  nat¬ 
urally  to  the  desire  of  another,  until  ambition,  or  avarice,  or  some 
other  passion,  tempted  him  at  length  to  make  the  final  sacrifice. 
Gerbert  is  said  to  have  sold  himself  on  condition  of  being  made 
a  pope.*'  Magicians  were,  in  general,  beneficent,  rather  than 
noxious  to  their  fellow-men  ;  it  was  only  when  provoked,  that 
they  injured  or  tormented  them ;  and  their  vengeance  was  in 


EUSTACE  THE  MONK— THEOPHILUS. 


11 


most  cases  of  a  ludicrous  character.  A  magician  of  the  twelfth 
century,  named  Eustace  the  Monk,  who  also  had  studied  in  Tole¬ 
do,  was  ill-received  in  a  tavern,  in  return  for  which  he  caused  the 
hostess  and  her  gossips  to  expose  themselves  in  a  disgraceful 
manner  to  the  ridicule  of  their  fellow-townspeople  ;  the  latter 
had  shown  him  disrespect,  and  he  set  them  all  by  the  ears  with 
his  conjurations  ;  a  wagoner,  in  whose  vehicle  he  was  riding, 
treated  him  with  insolence,  and  he  terrified  him  with  his  enchant¬ 
ments.  Another  necromancer,  according  to  a  story  of  the  thir¬ 
teenth  century,  went  to  a  town  to  gain  money  by  his  feats  ;  the 
townspeople  looked  on,  but  gave  him  nothing;  and  in  revenge, 
by  his  magic  ( arte  d&monica),  he  made  them  all  strip  to  the  skin, 
and  in  this  condition  dance  and  sing  about  the  streets. 

Sometimes  the  evil  one  had  intercourse  with  men  who  were 
not  magicians  ;  when  they  were  influenced  by  some  unattainable 
desire,  he  appeared  to  them,  called  or  uncalled,  and  bought  their 
souls  in  exchange  for  the  gratification  of  their  wishes.  Not  un- 
frequently  the  victim  had  fallen  suddenly  from  wealth  and  pow¬ 
er,  to  extreme  poverty  and  helplessness,  and  the  tempter  ap¬ 
peared  to  him  when  he  had  retired  to  some  solitary  spot  to  hide 
the  poignancy  of  his  grief.  This  circumstance  was  a  fertile 
source  of  stories  in  the  middle  ages,  and  in  most  of  which  the 
victim  of  the  fiend  is  rescued  by  the  interference  of  the  Virgin. 
Sometimes  he  sought  an  interview  with  the  demon  through  the 
agency  of  a  magician.  Thus  Theophilus,  a  personage  who  fig¬ 
ures  rather  extensively  in  medieval  legends,  was  the  seneschal 
of  a  bishop,  and  as  such,  a  rich  and  powerful  man  ;  but  his  pa¬ 
tron  died,  and  the  new  bishop  deprived  him  of  his  place  and  its 
emoluments.  Theophilus,  in  his  distress,  consulted  a  Jew,  who 
was  cynagician  ;  the  latter  called  in  the  fiend,  and  Theophilus 
sold  himself  on  condition  of  being  restored  to  his  old  dignity, 
with  increased  power  and  authority.  The  temper  of  men  raised 
in  the  world  in  this  manner  was  generally  changed,  and  they  be¬ 
came  vindictive,  cruel,  and  vicious.  It  was  one  of  the  articles 
of  the  compact  of  Theophilus  with  the  demon,  that  during  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  his  life,  he  should  practise  every  kind  of  vice  and 
oppression ;  but  before  his  time  came,  he  repented,  and  from  a 
great  sinner,  became  a  great  saint.  We  have  in  the  legend  of 
Faust  (“  Dr.  Faustus”),  the  general  type  of  a  medieval  magician. 

The  witch  held  a  lower  degree  in  the  scale  of  forbidden  knowl¬ 
edge.  She  was  a  slave  without  recompense  ;  she  had  sold  her¬ 
self  without  any  apparent  object,  unless  it  were  the  mere  power 
of  doing  evil.  The  witch  remained  always  the  same,  poor  and 


12 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


despised,  an  outcast  from  among  her  fellow-creatures.  It  is  to 
this  class  of  persons  that  our  work  will  be  more  especially  devo¬ 
ted  ;  and  in  the  present  chapter  we  will  endeavor  to  trace,  amid 
the  dim  light  of  early  medieval  history,  the  ideas  of  our  fore¬ 
fathers  on  this  subject,  previous  to  the  time  when  trials  for  sor¬ 
cery  became  frequent. 

It  has  been  an  article  of  popular  belief,  from  the  earliest  pe¬ 
riod  of  the  history  of  the  nations  of  western  Europe,  that  women 
were  more  easily  brought  into  connection  with  the  spiritual  world 
than  men  :  priestesses  were  the  favorite  agents  of  the  deities  of 
the  ages  of  paganism,  and  the  natural  weakness  and  vengeful 
feelings  of  the  sex  made  their  power  an  object  of  fear.  To  them 
especially  were  known  the  herbs,  or  animals,  or  other  articles 
which  were  noxious  to  mankind,  and  the  ceremonies  and  charms 
whereby  the  influence  of  the  gods  might  be  obtained  to  preserve 
or  to  injure.  After  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  it  was  the  de¬ 
mons  who  were  supposed  to  listen  to  these  incantations,  and  they 
are  strictly  forbidden  in  the  early  ecclesiastical  laws,  which  alone 
appear  at  first  to  have  taken  cognizance  of  them.  We  learn  from 
these  laws  that  witches  were  believed  to  destroy  people’s  cattle 
and  goods,  to  strike  people  with  diseases,  and  even  to  cause  their 
death.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  previous  to  the  twelfth 
century,  at  least,  their  power  was  believed  to  arise  from  any  di¬ 
rect  compact  with  the  devil.  In  the  adventures  of  Hereward,  a 
witch  is  introduced  to  enchant  a  whole  army,  but  she  appears  to 
derive  her  power  from  a  spirit  which  presided  over  a  fountain. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  women  seem,  from  allusions  met  with  here 
and  there  in  old  writers,  to  have  been  much  addicted  to  these 
superstitious  practices,  but  unfortunately  we  have  very  little  in¬ 
formation  as  to  their  particular  form  or  description.  Th^char- 
acter  of  Hilda,  in  Bulwer’s  noble  romance  of  “  King  Harold,”  is 
a  faithful  picture  of  the  Saxon  sorceress  of  a  higher  class.  Du¬ 
ring  the  period  subsequent  to  the  Norman  conquest,  we  are  bet¬ 
ter  acquainted  with  the  general  character  of  witchcraft  in  Eng¬ 
land,  and  among  our  neighbors  on  the  continent,  because  more 
of  the  historical  monuments  of  that  period  have  been  preserved. 

During  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  the  power  of  the 
witches  to  do  mischief  was  derived  from  a  direct  compact  with 
the  demon,  whom  they  were  bound  to  worship  with  certain 
rites  and  ceremonies,  the  shadows  of  those  which  had  in  re¬ 
moter  ages  been  performed  in-  honor  of  the  pagan  gods.  Sou¬ 
they’s  ballad  has  given  a  modern  popularity  to  the  story  of  the 
witch  of  Berkeley,  which  William  of  Malmsbury,  an  historian 


THE  WITCH  OF  BERKELEY. 


13 


of  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  relates  from  the  informa¬ 
tion  of  one  of  his  own  acquaintances,  who  assured  him  that  he 
was  an  eye-witness,  and  whom  William  “  would  have  been 
ashamed  to  disbelieve.”*  No  sooner  had  her  unearthly  master 
given  the  miserable  woman  warning  that  the  hour  had  approached 
when  he  should  take  final  possession,  than  she  called  to  her 
death-bed  her  children  and  the  monks  of  a  neighboring  monas¬ 
tery,  confessed  her  evil  courses  and  her  subjection  to  the  devil, 
and  begged  that  they  would  at  least  secure  her  body  from  the* 
hands  of  the  fiends.  “  Sew  me,”  she  said,  “  in  the  hide  of  a  stag, 
then  place  me  in  a  stone  coffin,  and  fasten  in  the  covering  lead 
and  iron.  Upon  this  place  another  stone,  and  chain  the  whole 
down  with  three  heavy  chains  of  iron.  Let  fifty  psalms  be  sung 
each  night,  and  fifty  masses  be  said  by  day,  to  break  the  power 
of  the  demons.  If  you  can  thus  keep  my  body  three  nights,  on 
the  fourth  day  you  may  securely  bury  it  in  the  ground.”  These 
directions  were  executed  to  the  letter;  but  psalms  and  masses 
were  equally  unavailable.  The  first  night  the  priests  withstood 
the  efforts  of  the  fiends  ;  the  second  they  became  more  clamo¬ 
rous,  the  gates  of  the  monastery  were  burst  open  in  spite  of  the 
strength  of  the  bolts,  and  two  of  the  chains  which  held  down  the 
coffin  were  broken,  though  the  middle  one  held  firm.  On  the 
third  night  the  clamor  of  the  fiends  increased  till  the  monastery 
trembled  from  its  foundations  ;  and  the  priests,  stiff  with  terror, 
were  unable  to  proceed  with  their  service.  The  doors  at  length 
burst  open  of  their  own  accord,  and  a  demon  larger  and  more 
terrible  than  any  of  the  others,  stalked  into  the  church.  He 
stopped  at  the  coffin,  and  with  a  fearful  voice  ordered  the  woman 
to  arise.  She  answered  that  she  was.  held  down  by  the  chain  ; 
the  denjon  put  his  foot  to  the  coffin,  the  last  chain  broke  asunder 
like  a  bit  of  thread,  and  the  covering  of  the  coffin  flew  off.  The 
body  of  the  witch  then  arose,  and  her  persecutor  took  her  by  the 
hand,  and  led  her  to  the  door,  Avhere  a  black  horse  of  gigantic 
stature,  its  back  covered  with  iron  spikes,  awaited  them,  and, 
seating  her  beside  him  on  its  back,  he  disappeared  from  the  sight 
of  the  terrified  monks.  But  the  horrible  screams  of  his  victim 
were  heard  through  the  countty  for  miles  as  they  passed  along. 

At  this  period  the  witches  met  together  by  night,  in  solitary 
places,  to  worship  their  master,  who  appeared  to  them  in 
the  shape  of  a  cat,  or  a  goat,  or  sometimes  in  that  of  a  man. 
At  these  meetings,  as  we  are  informed  by  John  of  Salisbury, 
they  had  feasts  and  some  were  appointed  to  serve  at  table,  while 

*  Ego  illud  a  tali  audivi,  qui  se  vidisse  juraret,  cui  erubesccrem  non  credere. 

2 


14 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


others  received  punishment  or  reward,  according  to  their  zeal  in 
the  service  of  the  evil  one.  Hither,  also,  they  brought  children 
which  they  had  stolen  from  their  cradles,  and  which  were  some¬ 
times  torn  to  pieces  and  devoured.  We  see  here  the  first  out¬ 
lines  of  the  witches’  “  sabbath”  of  a  later  age.  The  witches  came 
to  these  assemblies  riding  through  the  air,  mounted  on  besoms. 
William  of  Auverne,  who  wrote  in  the  thirteenth  century,  in¬ 
forms  us  that  when  the  witches  wished  to  go  to  the  place  of  ren¬ 
dezvous,  they  took  a  reed  or  cane,  and,  on  making  some  magi¬ 
cal  signs  and  uttering  certain  barbarous  words,  it  became  trans¬ 
formed  into  a  horse,  which  carried  them  thither  with  extraordi¬ 
nary  rapidity.  It  was  a  very  common  article  of  belief  in  the 
middle  ages,  that  women  of  this  class  rode  about  through  the  air 
at  night,  mounted  on  strange  beasts  ;  that  they  passed  over  im¬ 
mense  distances  in  an  incredible  short  space  of  time  ;  and  that 
they  entered  men’s  houses  without  opening  doors  or  windows, 
and  destroyed  their  goods,  and  injured  their  persons  while  asleep, 
sometimes  even  causing  their  death.  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  tells  a  story  of  one  of  these  wandering 
dames,  who  one  day  went  to  the  priest  in  the  church,  and  said, 
“  Sir,  I  did  you  a  great  service  last  night,  and  saved  you  from 
much  evil ;  for  the  dames  with  whom  I  am  accustomed  to  go 
about  at  night,  entered  your  chamber,  and  if  I  had  not  interceded 
with  them,  and  prayed  for  you,  they  would  have  done  you  an  in¬ 
jury.”  Says  the  priest,  “  The  door  of  my  chamber  was  locked 
and  bolted  ;  how  could  you  enter  it?”  To  which  the  old  woman 
(for  we  are  assured  that  it  was  an  old  woman),  answered,  “  Sir, 
neither  door  nor  lock  can  restrain  or  hinder  us  from  freely  going 
in  and  out  wherever  we  choose.”  Then  the  priest  shut  and 
bolted  the  church-doors,  and  seizing  the  stall'  of  the  cr^ss,  “  I 
will  prove  if  it  be  true,”  said  he,  “  that  I  may  repay  you  for  so 
great  a  service,”  and  he  belabored  the  woman’s  back  and  shoul¬ 
ders.  To  all  her  outcries,  his  only  reply  was,  “  Get  out  of  the 
church  and  fly,  since  neither  door  nor  lock  can  restrain  you  ?” 
It  was  an  argument  that  could  not  be  evaded.  A  writer  of  the 
twelfth  century,  however,  relates  from  his  own  knowledge,  an  in¬ 
cident  where  a  woman  in  France  had  been  seized  for  her  wicked 
opinions,  and  condemned  to  the  fire  ;  but,  with  a  word  or  two  of 
contempt  for  her  keepers  and  judges,  she  approached  the  win¬ 
dow  of  the  room  in  which  she  was  confined,  uttered  a  charm,  and 
instantly  disappeared  in  the  air. 

Another  faculty  possessed  by  the  witches  of  the  twelfth  and  thir¬ 
teenth  centuries,  was  that  of  taking  strange  shapes,  as  those  of  dif- 


THE  METAMORPHOSIS. 


15 


ferent  animals,  or  of  transforming'  others.  It  was  a  very  preva¬ 
lent  belie!  that  such  persons  turned  themselves  into  ravenous 
wolves,  and  wandered  about  by  night  to  devour  people.  They  took 
many  other  shapes  to  indulge  passions  which  could  not  be  other¬ 
wise  gratified.  They  sometimes  revenged  themselves  upon  their 
enemies,  or  those  against  whom  they  bore  ill-will,  by  turnino- 
them  into  dogs  or  asses,  and  they  could  only  recover  their  shapes 
by  bathing  in  running  water.  William  of  Malmsbury,  in  the  ear¬ 
lier  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  tells  us,  that  in  the  high  road  to 
Home  there  dwelt  two  old  women,  of  no  good  reputation,  in  a 
wretched  hut,  where  they  allured  weary  travellers  ;  and  by  their 
charms  they  transformed  them  into  horses,  or  swine,  or  any  other 
animals  which  they  could  sell  to  the  merchants  who  passed  that 
way,  by  which  means  they  gained  a  livelihood.  One  day  a  joug- 
leur,  or  mountebank,  asked  for  a  night’s  lodging ;  and  when  they 
were  informed  of  his  profession,  they  told  him  that  they  had  an 
ass  which  was  remarkable  for  its  intelligence — being  deficient 
only  in  speech,  but  which  would  do  every  kind  of  feat  it  was  or¬ 
dered  to  do.  The  jougleur  saw  the  ass,  was  delighted  with  its 
exploits,  and  bought  it  for  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  The 
woman  told  him  at  parting,  that  if  he  would  preserve  the  animal 
long,  he  must  carefully  keep  it  from  water.  The  mountebank 
followed  these  directions,  and  his  ass  became  a  very  fertile  source 
of  profit.  But  its  keeper,  with  increase  of  riches,  became  more 
dissolute,  and  less  attentive  to  his  interests  ;  and  one  day  while 
he  was  in  a  state  of  drunken  forgetfulness,  the  ass  escaped,  and 
ran  directly  to  the  nearest  stream,  into  which  it  had  no  sooner 
thrown  itself,  than  it  recovered  its  original  shape  of  a  handsome 
young  man.  The  mountebank  soon  afterward  missing  his  ass, 
set  out  anxiously  in  search  of  it,  and  met  the  young  man,  who 
told  him  what  had  happened,  and  how  he  had  been  transformed 
by  the  wicked  charms  of  the  old  women.  The  latter  were  car¬ 
ried  with  him  before  the  pope,  to  whom  they  confessed  their  evil 
practices. 

ihe  power  of  the  witches  was  indeed  very  great ;  and  as  they 
were  believed  to  be  entirely  occupied  in  the  perpetration  of  mis¬ 
chief,  it  was  in  these  early  ages  an  object  of  universal  terror. 
They  sent  storms  which  destroyed  the  crops,  and  overthrew  or 
set  fire  to  people’s  houses.  They  sunk  ships  on  the  sea.  They 
cast  charms  on  people’s  cattle.  They  carried  away  children 
from  the  cradle,  and  often  tore  and  devoured  them  at  their  horri¬ 
ble  orgies,  while  sometimes  they  left  changelings  in  their  places. 
They  struck  men  and  women  with  noxious  diseases,  and  made 


16 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


them  gradually  pine  away.  The  earlier  German  and  Anglo-Saxon 
witches  were  still  more  ferocious,  for  it  appears  that  when  they 
found  men  asleep,  or  off  their  guard,  they  slew  them,  and  de¬ 
voured  their  heart  and  breast,  a  crime  for  which  a  severe  punish¬ 
ment  is  allotted  in  the  ancient  laws  of  some  of  the  Teutonic 
tribes.  But  it  appears,  by  some  of  these  laws,  that  the  witches 
had  contrived  a  singular  mode  of  evasion.  When  they  found  a 
man  asleep,  they  tore  out  his  heart  and  devoured  it,  and  then 
filled  the  cavity  with  straw,  or  a  piece  of  wood,  or  some  other 
substance,  and  by  their  charms  gave  him  an  artificial  life,  so  that 
he  appeared  to  live  and  move  in  the  world,  and  execute  all  his 
functions,  until  long  after  the  actual  crime  had  taken  place,  and 
then  he  pined  away,  and  seemed  to  die. 

The  practice  of  bewitching  and  killing  people  by  charmed  im¬ 
ages  of  wax,  which  is  so  often  mentioned  in  later  times,  does  not 
occur  in  the  earlier  history  of  sorcery  in  the  west.  It  is  not  dis¬ 
tinctly  mentioned  until  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century; 
but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  we  have  no  detailed  trials  of 
witches  in  these  early  ages,  and  that  consequently  we  find  only 
accidental  allusions  to  their  practices.  The  earliest  trial  for 
witchcraft  in  England  occurs  in  the  tenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
King  John,  when,  as  it  is  briefly  stated  in  the  “  Abbreviatio  Pla- 
citorum ,”  the  only  record  of  the  legal  proceedings  of  the  time, 
“  Agnes,  the  wife  of  Odo  the  merchant,  accused  Gideon  of  sor¬ 
cery  ( dc  sorceria J,  and  she  was  acquitted  by  the  judgment  of 
[hot]  iron.”  During  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  in  1324,  occurs 
the  earliest  case  of  sorcery  in  England  of  which  we  have  any 
details.  The  actors  in  it  were  men,  and  their  object  was  to 
cause  the  death  of  the  king,  the  two  Despensers  (his  favorites), 
and  the  prior  of  Coventry,  who,  it  appears,  had  been  supported 
by  the  royal  favorites  in  oppressing  the  city  of  Coventry,  and 
more  especially  certain  of  its  citizens.  The  latter  went  to  a  fa¬ 
mous  necromancer  of  Coventry,  named  Master  John  of  Notting¬ 
ham,  and  his  man  Robert  Marshall  of  Leicester,  and  requested 
them  to  aid  “  by  their  necromancy  and  their  arts”  in  bringing 
about  the  death  of  the  king,  the  two  favorites,  and  the  said  prior. 
Robert  Marshall,  perhaps  in  consequence  of  a  quarrel  with  his 
master,  sought  his  revenge  by  laying  an  information  against  the 
other  confederates.  He  said  that  John  of  Nottingham  and  him¬ 
self  having  agreed  for  a  certain  sum  of  money  to  do  as  they  were 
requested  by  the  citizens,  the  latter  brought  them,  on  the  Sunday 
next  after  the  feast  of  St.  Nicholas,  being  the  11th  of  March,  a 
sum  of  money  in  part  payment,  with  seven  pounds  of  wax  and 


THE  MAGICIANS  OF  COVENTRY. 


17 


two  yards  of  canvass,  with  which  wax  the  necromancer  and  his 
man  made  seven  images,  the  one  representing  the  king  with  his 
crown  on  his  head,  the  six  others  representing  the  two  Despen- 
sers,  the  prior,  his  caterer  and  steward,  and  a  certain  person 
named  Richard  de  Lowe,  the  latter  being  chosen  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  trying  an  experiment  upon  him  to  prove  the  strength 
of  the  charm.  Robert  Marshall  confessed  that  he  and  his  mas¬ 
ter,  John  of  Nottingham,  went  to  an  old  ruined  house  under 
Shortely  park,  about  half  a  league  from  the  city  of  Coventry,  in 
which  they  began  their  work  on  the  Monday  after  the  feast  of  St. 
Nicholas,  and  that  they  remained  constantly  at  work  until  the 
Saturday  after  the  feast  of  the  Ascension  ;  that  “  as  the  said  Mas¬ 
ter  John  and  he  were  at  their  work  in  the  said  old  house  the 
Friday  after  the  feast  of  the  Holy  Cross,  about  midnight,  the  said 
Master  John  gave  to  the  said  Robert  a  broach  of  lead  with  a  sharp 
point,  and  commanded  him  to  push  it  to  the  depth  of  about  two 
inches  in  the  forehead  of  the  image  made  after  Richard  de  Lowe, 
by  which  he  would  prove  the  others  ;  and  so  he  did  ;  and  the  next 
morning  the  said  Master  John  sent  the  said  Robert  to  the  house  of 
the  said  Richard  de  Lowe,  to  spy  in  what  condition  he  was,  and  the 
said  Robert  found  the  said  Richard  screaming  and  crying  ‘  Har¬ 
row  !’  and  without  knowledge  of  anybody,  having  lost  his  mem¬ 
ory  ;  and  so  the  said  Richard  lay  languishing  until  the  daybreak 
of  the  Sunday  before  the  feast  of  the  Ascension,  at  which  hour 
the  said  Master  John  drew  out  the  said  leaden  broach  from  the 
forehead  of  the  said  image  made  after  the  said  Richard,  and  thrust 
it  into  its  heart.  And  thus  the  said  broach  remained  in  the  heart 
of  the  image  until  the  Wednesday  following,  on  which  day  the 
said  Richard  died.”  It  appears  that  a  stop  was  put  to  the  fur¬ 
ther  prosecution  of  their  design,  and  thus  the  only  person  who 
suffered  was  one  against  whom  they  appear  to  have  had  no  cause 
for  malice.  The  trial  was  adjourned  from  term  to  term,  until  at 
length  it  disappears  from  the  rolls,  and  the  prosecution  was  prob¬ 
ably  dropped. 

It  was,  however,  the  church  more  frequently  than  the  common 
law,  which  took  cognizance  of  such  crimes  ;  for  sorcery  was  con¬ 
ceived  to  be  one  of  the  means  used  by  Satan  to  stir  up  heresies, 
and  it  was  on  this  account  that  on  the  continent  it  was  at  an 
early  period  treated  with  so  much  severity.*  Apostate  priests 
were  believed  to  attend  the  secret  assemblies  of  the  witches,  and 

*  The  earliest  instance  which  I  have  met  with  of  the  burning  of  witches,  occurs 
in  the  curious  treatise  of  Walter  Mapes,  “De  Nugis  Curialium,”  dist.  iv.,  chap.  6, 
written  in  the  reign  of  our  Henry  II. 


2* 


18 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


receive  their  lessons  from  the  evil  one.  A  very  remarkable  heretical 
sorcerer,  named  Eud'o  de  Stella,  lived  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  is  the  subject  of  several  wonderful  stories  in  the 
chronicles  of  those  times.  By  his  “  diabolical  charms,”  if  we 
believe  William  of  Newbury,  he  collected  together  a  great  mul¬ 
titude  of  followers.  Sometimes  they  were  carried  about  from 
province  to  province,  with  amazing  rapidity,  making  converts 
wherever  they  stopped.  At  other  times  they  retired  into  desert 
places,  where  their  leader  held  his  court  with  great  apparent 
magnificence,  and  noble  tables  were  suddenly  spread  with  rich 
viands  and  strong  wines,  served  by  invisible  spirits,  and  whatever 
the  guests  wished  for  was  laid  before  them  in  an  instant.  But 
William  of  Newbury  tells  us  that  he  had  heard,  from  some  of 
Eudo’s  followers,  that  these  various  meats  were  not  substantial, 
that  they  gave  satisfaction  only  for  the  moment,  which  was  soon 
followed  by  keener  hunger  than  before,  so  that  they  were  contin¬ 
ually  eating.  Any  one,  however,  who  once  tasted  of  these  meats, 
or  received  any  of  Eudo’s  gifts,  wTas  immediately  held  by  a  charm, 
and  became  involuntarily  one  of  his  followers.  A  knight  of  his 
acquaintance — for  he  was  a  man  of  good  family — visited  him  at 
his  “  fantastic”  court,  and  endeavored  in  vain  to  convert  him  from 
his  evil  ways.  When  he  departed,  Euclo  presented  his  esquire 
with  a  handsome  hawk.  The  knight,  observing  his  esquire  with 
the  bird  on  his  hand,  advised  him  to  cast  it  away  ;  but  he  refused, 
and  they  had  scarcely  left  the  assembly  which  surrounded  Eudo’s 
resting-place,  when  the  esquire  felt  the  claws  of  his  bird  grasp¬ 
ing  him  tighter  and  tighter,  until,  before  he  could  disengage  him¬ 
self,  it  flew  away  with  him,  and  he  was  seen  no  more.  The 
hawk  was  a  demon.  Eudo  was  at  length  arrested  by  the  arch¬ 
bishop  of  Rheims,  and  died  in  prison.  His  followers  dispersed 
when  their  leader  was  taken,  but  some  of  them  were  seized  and 
burnt. 

The  religious  sects  which  sprang  up  rather  numerously  in  the 
twelfth  century,  in  consequence  of  the  violent  intellectual  agita¬ 
tion  of  that  age,  and  which  attempted  to  throw  off  the  corruptions 
of  the  papacy,  naturally  gave  great  alarm  to  the  church ;  and  the 
advocates  of  the  latter  adopted  the  course,  too  common  in  reli¬ 
gious  controversies,  of  attempting  to  render  their  opponents  un¬ 
popular,  by  fixing  upon  them  some  disgraceful  stigma.  They 
thus  ascribed  to  them  most  of  the  scandalous  practices  which  the 
fathers  had  told  them  were  in  use  among  the  Manichaeans  and 
other  heretics  of  the  primitive  church,  while  among  the  vulgar 
they  identified  them  with  the  hated  sorcerer  and  witch,  and  ac- 


SORCERY  AND  HERESY. 


19 


cused  them  of  being  in  direct  compact  with  the  devil.  The 
secrecy  which  their  safety  compelled  them  to  observe  gave  a 
ready  handle  for  such  sinister  reports.  William  of  Rheims,  the 
prelate  mentioned  above,  appears  to  have  been  a  great  persecutor 
of  these  sects,  which  were  numerous  in  all  parts  of  France,  and 
were  known  by  such  names  as  Publicans  (said  to  be  a  corruption 
of  Paulicians),  Paternins,  &c.,  in  the  north,  and  Waldenses  in 
the  south.  Walter  Mapes,  a  well-known  English  writer  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  in  a  treatise  entitled  “  De  Nugis 
Curialium,”  recently  published  for  the  first  time  by  the  author  of 
these  pages,  has  preserved  some  curious  stories  relating  to  these 
Publicans,  whom  he  represents  as  being  under  the  necessity  of 
concealing  their  opinions  from  the  knowledge  of  the  public.  Some 
of  them,  he  says,  who  had  returned  to  the  community  of  the  church, 
confessed  that  at  their  meetings,  which  were  held  “  about  the 
first  watch  of  the  night,”  they  closed  the  doors  and  windows,  and 
sat  waiting  in  silence,  until  at  length  a  black  cat  descended  among 
them.  They  then  immediately  put  out  the  lights,  and,  approach¬ 
ing  this  strange  object  of  adoration,  every  one  caught  hold  of  it 
how  he  could  and  kissed  it.  The  worshippers  then  took  hold 
of  each  other,  men  and  women,  and  proceeded  to  acts  which  can 
not  here  be  described.  The  archbishop  of  Rheims  told  Mapes 
himself  that  there  was  a  certain  great  baron  in  the  district  of 
Vienne  who  always  carried  with  him  in  his  scrip  a  small  quan¬ 
tity  of  exorcised  salt,  as  a  defence  against  the  sorcery  of  these 
people,  to  which  he  thought  he  was  exposed  even  at  table.  In¬ 
formation  was  brought  to  him  at  last  that  his  nephew,  who  was 
also  a  man  of  great  wealth  and  influence  (perhaps  the  same  Eudo 
de  Stella  mentioned  by  William  of  Newbury),  had  been  converted 
to  the  creed  of  these  Publicans  or  Paternins  by  the  intermedia¬ 
tion  of  two  knights,  and  he  immediately  paid  him  a  visit.  As 
they  all  sat  at  dinner,  the  noble  convert  ordered  to  be  placed  be¬ 
fore  his  uncle  a  fine  barbel  on  a  dish,  which  was  equally  tempt¬ 
ing  by  its  look  and  smell ;  but  he  had  no  sooner  sprinkled  a  little 
of  his  salt  upon  it,  than  it  vanished,  and  nothing  was  left  on  the 
dish  but  a  bit  of  dirt.  The  uncle,  astonished  at  what  had  hap¬ 
pened,  urged  his  nephew  to  abandon  his  evil  courses,  but  in  vain, 
and  he  left  him,  carrying  away  as  prisoners  the  two  knights  who 
had  corrupted  him.  To  punish  these  for  their  heresy,  he  bound 
them  in  a  little  hut  of  inflammable  materials,  to  which  he  set  fire 
in  order  to  burn  them  ;  but  when  the  ashes  were  cleared  away, 
they  were  found  totally  unhurt.  To  counteract  the  effects  this 
false  miracle  might  produce  on  the  minds  of  the  vulgar,  the  baron 


20 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


now  erected  a  larger  hut  with  still  more  inflammable  materials, 
which  he  sprinkled  all  over  with  holy  water  as  a  precaution 
against  sorcery ;  but  now  it  was  found  that  the  flames  would  not 
communicate  themselves  to  the  building.  When  people  entered, 
however,  they  found  to  their  astonishment  that  the  former  miracle 
was  reversed  :  for  now,  while  the  wooden  building  which  had 
been  sprinkled  with  holy  water  would  not  burn,  the  two  sorcerers 
were  found  reduced  to  ashes.  The  truth  of  this  story  was  as¬ 
serted  by  the  prince-bishop  of  Rheims  (for  the  prelate  was  the 
French  king’s  brother-in-law),  and  the  readiness  with  which  it 
was  received  is  a  proof  of  the  extraordinary  credulity  of  the  age 
in  matters  of  this  kind.  Walter  Mapes,  who  was  rather  beyond 
his  age  in  liberality  of  sentiment,  acknowledges  the  simplicity 
and  innocence  of  the  Waldenses,  or  Vaudois  ;  yet,  before  much 
more  than  a  century  was  past,  they  also  were  exposed  to  the 
worst  part  of  the  charges  mentioned  above.  A  list  of  the  pre¬ 
tended  errors  of  this  sect,  compiled  probably  about  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  speaks  of  the  same  disgraceful  proceedings  at 
their  secret  meetings  ;  of  the  figure  of  a  cat  under  which  the  de¬ 
mon  appeared  to  them,  to  receive  their  homage  ;  and  tells  us  that 
they  travelled  through  the  air  or  skies  anointed  with  a  certain 
ointment :  but  the  writer  confesses  naively  that  they  had  not 
done  such  things  to  his  knowledge  m  the  parts  where  he  lived.* 
The  demons  whom  the  sorcerer  served  seem  rarely  to  have 
given  any  assistance  to  their  victims,  when  the  latter  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  judicial  authorities.  But  if  they  escaped  punish¬ 
ment  by  the  agency  of  the  law,  they  were  only  reserved  for  a 
more  terrible  end.  We  have  already  seen  the  fate  of  the  woman 
of  Berkeley.  A  writer  of  the  thirteenth  century  has  preserved 
a  story  of  a  man  who,  by  his  compact  with  the  evil  one,  had  col¬ 
lected  together  great  riches.  One  day,  while  he  was  absent  in 
the  fields,  a  stranger  of  suspicious  appearance  came  to  his  house, 
and  asked  for  him.  His  wife  replied  that  he  was  not  at  home. 
The  stranger  said,  “  Tell  him,  when  he  returns,  that  to-night  he 
must  pay  me  my  debt.”  The  wife  replied  that  she  was  not  aware 

*  This  list  of  the  errors  of  the  W aldenses  is  printed  in  the  “  Reliqiuffi  Antiquoe,” 
vol.  i.,  p.  246.  The  charges  alluded  to  are  placed  at  the  end. 

“  Item,  habent  etiam  inter  se  mixtum  abominabile  et  perversa  dogmata  ad  hoc 
apta,  sed  non  reperitur  quod  abutantur  in  partibus  istis  a  multis  temporibus. 

“  Item,  in  aliquibus  aliis  partibus  apparet  eis  daemon  sub  specie  et  figura  cati, 
quem  sub  cauda  sigillatim  osculantur. 

“  Item,  in  aliis  partibus  super  unum  baculum  certo  unguento  perunctum  equitant 
et  ad  loca  assignata  ubi  voluerint  congregantur  in  momento  dum  volunt.  Sed  ista 
in  istis  partibus  non  inveniuntur.” 

The  latter  is  distinctly  an  allusion  to  the  “sabbath”  of  the  witches. 


EUDO  AND  THE  DEMON  OLGA. 


21 


he  owed  anything  to  him.  “  Tell  him,”  said  the  stranger,  with 
a  ferocious  look,  “  that  I  will  have  my  debt  to-night !”  The  hus¬ 
band  returned,  and,  when  informed  of  what  had  taken  place, 
merely  remarked  that  the  demand  was  just.  He  then  ordered 
his  bed  to  be  made  that  night  in  an  outhouse,  where  he  had  never 
slept  before,  and  he  shut  himself  in  it  with  a  lighted  candle. 
The  family  were  astonished,  and  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to 
gratify  their  curiosity  by  looking  through  the  holes  in  the  door. 
They  beheld  the  same  stranger,  who  had  entered  without  open¬ 
ing  the  door,  seated  beside  his  victim,  and  they  appeared  to  be 
.counting  large  sums  of  money.  Soon  they  began  to  quarrel  about 
their  accounts,  and  were  proceeding  from  threats  to  blows,  when 
the  servants,  who  were  looking  through  the  door,  burst  it  open, 
that  they  might  help  their  master.  The  light  was  instantly  ex¬ 
tinguished,  and  when  another  was  brought,  no  traces  could  be 
found  of  either  of  the  disputants,  nor  were  they  ever  afterward 
heard  of.  The  suspicious-looking  stranger  was  the  demon  him¬ 
self,  who  had  carried  away  his  victim. 

In  some  cases  the  demon  interfered  uncalled  for,  and  without 
any  apparent  advantage  to  himself.  A  story  told  by  Walter 
Mapes  furnishes  a  curious  illustration  of  this,  while  it  shows  us 
the  strong  tendency  of  the  popular  mind  to  believe  in  supernatu¬ 
ral  agency.  The  wars  and  troubles  of  the  twelfth  century,  joined 
with  the  defective  construction  of  the  social  system,  exposed 
France  and  other  countries  to  the  ravages  of  troops  of  soldier- 
robbers,  who  made  war  on  society  for  their  own  gain,  and  who 
represented  in  a  rude  form  the  Free  Companies  of  a  later  period. 
They  were  commonly  known  by  the  appellation  of  Routiers,  and 
in  many  instances  had  for  their  leaders  knights  and  gentlemen 
who,  having  squandered  away  their  property,  or  incurred  the  ban 
of  society,  betook  themselves  to  this  wild  mode  of  life.  The 
chief  of  one  of  the  bands  which  ravaged  the  diocese  of  Beauvais 
in  the  twelfth  century  was  named  Eudo.  He  was  the  son  and 
heir  of  a  baron  of  great  wealth,  but  had  wasted  his  patrimony  un¬ 
til  he  was  reduced  to  beggary.  One  day  he  wandered  from  the 
city  into  a  neighboring  wood,  and  there  he  sank  down  on  a  bank- 
side,  reflecting  on  his  own  miserable  condition.  Suddenly  he 
was  roused  from  his  revery  by  the  appearance  of  a  stranger,  a 
man  of  large  stature  but  repulsive  countenance,  who  nevertheless 
addressed  him  in  conciliatory  language,  and  soon  showed  that  he 
knew  all  his  affairs.  The  stranger,  who  was  no  other  than  a 
demon  in  disguise,  promised  Eudo  that  he  should  not  only  re¬ 
cover  his  former  riches,  but  that  he  should  gain  infinitely  more 


22 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


wealth  and  power  than  he  had  ever  possessed  before,  if  he  would 
submit  to  his  guidance  and  follow  his  councils.  After  much 
hesitation,  Eudo  accepted  the  tempter’s  aid  ;  and  the  latter  not 
only  waived  any  disagreeable  conditions  on  the  part  of  his  victim, 
but  even  agreed  that  he  would  give  him  three  successive  warn¬ 
ings  before  his  death,  so  that  he  might  have  sufficient  time  for 
repentance. 

From  this  moment  Olga,  for  this  was  the  name  the  demon 
took,  was  Eudo’s  constant  companion,  and  the  adviser  of  all  his 
actions.  They  soon  raised  a  powerful  troop,  and,  by  the  knowl¬ 
edge  and  skill  of  Olga,  the  whole  district  of  Beauvais  was  grad¬ 
ually  overrun  and  plundered,  and  its  inhabitants  exposed  to  every 
outrage  in  which  the  lawless  soldiers  of  the  middle  ages  indulged. 
Success  attended  all  Eudo’s  undertakings,  and  neither  towns  nor 
castles  were  safe  from  their  ravages.  The  possessions  of  the 
clergy  were  the  special  objects  of  Eudo’s  fury ;  and  the  bishop 
of  Beauvais,  after  using  in  vain  all  means  of  reclaiming  or  resist¬ 
ing  him,  thundered  against  him  the  deepest  anathema  of  the 
church.  In  the  midst  of  these  daily  scenes  of  rapine  and  slaugh¬ 
ter,  one  day  Olga  met  him  with  a  more  serious  countenance  than 
usual,  reminded  him  of  his  sins,  preached  repentance,  and  rec¬ 
ommended  him,  above  all  things,  to  submit  to  the  bishop  and  rec¬ 
oncile  himself  to  the  church.  Eudo  obeyed,  obtained  the  bishop’s 
absolution,  led  a  better  life  for  a  short  time,  and  then  returned  to 
his  old  ways,  and  became  worse  than  before.  In  the  course  of 
one  of  his  plundering  expeditions,  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse, 
and  broke  his  leg.  This  Eudo  took  as  his  first  warning ;  he 
repented  anew,  went  to  the  bishop  and  made  his  confession  (omit¬ 
ting,  however,  all  mention  of  his  compact  with  Olga),  and  re¬ 
mained  peaceful  till  his  recovery  from  the  accident,  when  he  col¬ 
lected  his  followers  again,  and  pursued  his  old  life  with  such 
eagerness,  that  no  one  could  speak  of  his  name  without  horror. 
A  second  warning,  the  loss  of  his  eye  by  an  arrow,  had  the  same 
result.  At  length  he  was  visited  by  the  third  and  last  warning, 
the  death  of  his  only  son,  and  then  true  penitence  visited  his 
heart.  He  hastened  to  the  city  of  Beauvais,  and  found  the  bishop 
outside  the  walls  assisting  at  the  burning  of  a  witch.  But  the 
prelate  had  now  experienced  so  many  times  the  falseness  of 
Eudo’s  penitence,  that  he  refused  to  believe  it  when  true.  The 
earnest  supplications  of  the  sinner,  even  the  tardy  sympathy  of 
the  multitude  who  stood  round,  most  of  whom  had  been  sufferers 
from  his  violence,  were  of  no  avail,  and  the  bishop  persisted  in 
refusing  to  the  unhappy  man  the  consolations  of  the  church.  At 


THE  LADY  ALICE  KYTELER. 


23 


length,  tormented  and  angered  with  his  importunities,  the  bishop 
exclaimed,  If  I  must  relent,  be  it  known  that  I  enjoin  as  thy 
penitence  that  thou  throw  thyself  into  this  fire  which  has  beer- 
prepared  for  the  sorceress.”  Eudo  remonstrated  not,  but  threw 
himsell  into  the  fire,  and  was  consumed  to  ashes. 

With  the  fourteenth  century  we  enter  upon  a  new  period  of 
the  history  of  sorcery.  The  trial  of  the  necromancers  of  Coven¬ 
try  appears  to  have  originated  in  an  attempt  to  gratify  private 
revenge.  In  our  next  chapter  we  shall  detail  a  far  more  extraor¬ 
dinary  case,  occurring  at  the  same  time,  which  appears  to  have 
arisen  from  acts  of  extortion  and  oppression.  From  this  time, 
during^  at  least  two  centuries  (the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth),  we 
shall  find  sorcery  used  frequently  as  a  powerful  instrument  of 
political  intrigue.  After  that  period,  we  enter  upon  what  may 
be  termed,  par  excellence ,  the  age  of  witches. 


CHAPTER  II. 

STORY  OF  THE  LADY  ALICE  KYTELER. 

It  was  late  in  the  twelfth  century  when  the  Anglo-Normans 
first  set  their  feet  in  Ireland  as  conquerors,  and  before  the  end 
ol  the  thirteenth  the  portion  of  that  island  which  has  since  re¬ 
ceived  the  name  of  the  English  Pale,  was  already  covered  with 
flourishing  towns  and  cities,  which  bore  witness  to  the  rapid 
increase  of  commerce  in  the  hands  of  the  enterprising  and  in¬ 
dustrious  settlers  from  the  shores  of  Great  Britain.  The  county 
of  Kilkenny,  attractive  by  its  beauty  and  by  its  various  resources, 
was  one  of  the  districts  first  occupied  by  the  invaders  ;  and  at 
the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  its  chief  town,  named  also 
Kilkenny,  was  a  strong  city  with  a  commanding  castle,  and  was 
inhabited  by  wealthy  merchants,  one  of  whom  was  a  rich  banker 
and  money-lender  named  William  Outlawe. 

This  William  Outlawe  married  a  lady  of  property  named  Alice 
Kyteler,  or  Le  Kyteler,  who  was,  perhaps,  the  sister  or  a  near  rela¬ 
tive  of  a  William  Kyteler,  incidentally  mentioned  as  holding  the 
office  of  sheriff  of  the  liberty  of  Kilkenny.  William  Outlawe  died 
some  time  before  1302  ;  and  his  widow  became  the  wife  of  Adam  le 
Blond,  of  Call  an,  of  a  family  which,  by  its  English  name  of  White, 
held  considerable  estates  in  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary  in  later 
times.  This  second  husband  was  dead  before  1311  ;  for  in  that 


24 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


year  the  lady  Alice  appears  as  the  wife  of  Richard  de  Valle  :  and 
at  the  time  of  the  events  narrated  in  the  following  pages,  she  was 
the  spouse  of  a  fourth  husband,  Sir  John  le  Poer.  By  her  first 
husband  she  had  a  son,  named  also  William  Outlawe,  who  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  the  heir  to  his  father’s  property,  and  suc¬ 
ceeded  him  as  a  banker.  He  was  his  mother’s  favorite  child, 
and  seems  to  have  inherited  also  a  good  portion  of  the  wealth  of 
the  lady  Alice’s  second  and  third  husbands. 

The  few  incidents  relating  to  this  family  previous  to  the  year 
1324,  which  can  be  gathered  from  the  entries  on  the  Irish  rec¬ 
ords,  seem  to  show  that  it  was  not  altogether  free  from  the  turbu¬ 
lent  spirit  which  was  so  prevalent  among  the  Anglo-Irish  in  for¬ 
mer  ages.  It  appears  that,  in  1302,  Adam  le  Blond  and  Alice 
his  wife  intrusted  to  the  keeping  of  William  Outlawe  the  younger 
the  sum  of  three  thousand  pounds  in  money,  which  William  Out¬ 
lawe,  for  the  better  security,  buried  in  the  earth  within  his  house, 
a  method  of  concealing  treasure  which  accounts  for  many  of  our 
antiquarian  discoveries.  This  was  soon  noised  abroad  ;  and  one 
night  William  le  Kyteler,  the  sheriff  above  mentioned,  with  oth¬ 
ers,  by  precept  of  the  seneschal  of  the  liberty  of  Kilkenny,  broke 
into  the  house  vi  et  armis,  as  the  record  has  it,  dug  up  the  money, 
and  carried  it  off,  along  with  a  hundred  pounds  belonging  to 
William  Outlawe  himself,  which  they  found  in  the  house.  Such 
an  outrage  as  this  could  not  pass  in  silence  ;  but  the  perpetrators 
attempted  to  shelter  themselves  under  the  excuse  that,  being  dug 
up  from  the  ground,  it  was  treasure-trove ,  and  as  such  belonged 
to  the  king ;  and,  when  Adam  le  Blond  and  his  wife  Alice  at¬ 
tempted  to  make  good  their  claims,  the  sheriff  trumped  up  a 
charge  against  them  that  they  had  committed  homicide  and  other 
crimes,  and  that  they  had  concealed  Roesia  Outlawe  (perhaps 
the  sister  of  William  Outlawe  the  younger),  accused  of  theft, 
from  the  agents  of  justice,  under  which  pretences  he  threw  into 
prison  all  three,  Adam,  Alice,  and  Roesia.  They  were,  how¬ 
ever,  soon  afterward  liberated,  but  we  do  not  learn  if  they  recov¬ 
ered  their  money.  William  Outlawe’s  riches,  and  his  mother’s 
partiality  for  him,  appear  to  have  drawn  upon  them  both  the  jeal¬ 
ousy  and  hatred  of  many  of  their  neighbors,  and  even  of  some  of 
their  kindred,  but  they  were  too  powerful  and  too  highly  con¬ 
nected  to  be  reached  in  any  ordinary  way. 

At  this  time  Richard  de  Ledrede,  a  turbulent  intriguing  prel¬ 
ate,  held  the  see  of  Ossory,  to  which  he  had  been  consecrated 
in  1318  by  mandate  from  Pope  John  XXII.,  the  same  pontiff  to 
whom  we  owe  the  first  bull  against  sorcery  ( contra  magos  ma- 


THE  LADY  ALICE  KYTELER.  05 

gicasque  super  stitiones ),  which  was  the  groundwork  of  the  in¬ 
quisitorial  persecutions  of  the  following  ages.  In  1324,  Bishop 
Richard  made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  and  “  found,”  as  the 
chronicler  ol  these  events  informs  us,  “  by  an  inquest  in  which 
were  five  knights  and  other  noblemen  in  great  multitude,  that  in 
the  city  ol  Kilkenny  there  had  long  been,  and  still  were,  many 
sorcerers  using  divers  kinds  of  witchcraft,  to  the  investigation  of 
which  the  bishop  proceeding,  as  he  was  obliged  by  duty  of  his 
office,  found  a  certain  rich  lady,  called  the  lady  Alice  Kyteler,  the 
mother  ol  YV  illiam  Outlawe,  with  many  of  her  accomplices,  in¬ 
volved  in  various  such  heresies.”  Here,  then,  was  a  fair  occa¬ 
sion  for  displaying  the  zeal  of  a  follower  of  the  sorcery-hating 
Pope  John,  and  also  perhaps  for  indulging  some  other  passions. 

The  persons  accused  as  Lady  Alice’s  accomplices,  were  her 
son,  the  banker,  William  Outlawe,  a  clerk  named  Robert  de 
Bristol,  John  Galrussyn,  William  Payn  of  Bolv,  Petronilla  de 
Meath,  Petronilla’s  daughter  Sarah,  Alice,  the  wife  of  Henry  the 
Smith,  Annota  Lange,  Helena  Galrussyn,  Sysok  Galrussyn,  and 
Eva  de  Brounstoun.  The  charges  brought  against  them  were 
distributed  under  seven  formidable  heads.  First,  it  was  asserted 
that,  in  order  to  give  effect  to  their  sorcery,  they  were  in  the 
habit  of  totally  denying  the  faith  of  Christ  and  of  the  church  for 
a  year  or  month,  according  as  the  object  to  be  attained  was  greater 
or  less,  so  that  during  the  stipulated  period  they  believed  in  noth¬ 
ing  that  the  church  believed,  and  abstained  from  worshipping  the 
body  of  Christ,  from  entering  a  church,  from  hearing  mass,  and 
from  participating  in  the  sacrament.  Second,  that  they  propiti¬ 
ated  the  demons  with  sacrifices  of  living  animals,  which  they 
divided  member  from  member,  and  offered,  by  scattering  them  in 
cross-roads,  to  a  certain  demon  who  caused  himself  to  be  called 
Robin  Artisson  ( fdius  Artis),  who  was  “  one  of  the  poorer  class 
of  hell.”  Third,  that  by  their  sorceries  they  sought  council  and 
answers  from  demons.  Fourth,  that  they  used  the  ceremonies  of 
the  church  in  their  nightly  conventicles,  pronouncing,  with  lighted 
candles  of  wax,  sentence  of  excommunication,  even  against  the 
persons  of  their  own  husbands,  naming  expressly  every  member, 
from  the  sole  of  the  foot  to  the  top  of  the  head,  and  at  length  ex¬ 
tinguishing  the  candles  with  the  exclamation  “  Fi !  fi  !  fi  !  Amen.” 
Fifth,  that  with  the  intestines  and  other  inner  parts  of  cocks  sac¬ 
rificed  to  the  demons,  with  “  certain  horrible  worms,”  various 
herbs,  the  nails  of  dead  men,  the  hair,  brains,  and  clothes  of 
children  which  had  died  unbaptized,  and  other  things  equally 
disgusting,  boiled  in  the  skull  of  a  certain  robber  who  had  been 

3 


20 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


beheaded,  on  a  fire  made  of  oak-sticks,  they  had  made  powders 
and  ointments,  and  also  candles  of  fat  boiled  in  the  said  skull, 
with  certain  charms,  which  things  were  to  be  instrumental  in  ex¬ 
citing  love  or  hatred,  and  in  killing  and  otherwise  afllicting  the 
bodies  of  faithful  Christians,  and  in  effecting  various  other  pur¬ 
poses.  Sixth,  that  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  four  husbands 
of  the  lady  Alice  Ivyteler  had  made  their  complaint  to  the  bishop, 
that  she,  by  such  sorcery,  had  procured  the  death  of  her  hus¬ 
bands,  and  had  so  infatuated  and  charmed  them,  that  they  had 
given  all  their  property  to  her  and  her  son,  to  the  perpetual  impov¬ 
erishment  of  their  sons  and  heirs  ;  insomuch,  that  her  present 
husband,  Sir  John  le  Poer,  was  reduced  to  a  most  miserable 
state  of  body  by  her  powders,  ointments,  and  other  magical  oper¬ 
ations  ;  but  being  warned  by  her  maid-servant,  he  had  forcibly 
taken  from  his  wife  the  keys  of  her  boxes,  in  which  he  found 
a  bag  filled  with  the  “  detestable”  articles  above  enumerated, 
which  he  had  sent  to  the  bishop.  Seventh,  that  there  was  an 
unholy  connection  between  the  said  Lady  Alice  and  the  demon 
called  Robjn  Artisson,  who  sometimes  appeared  to  her  in  the 
form  of  a  cat,  sometimes  in  that  of  a  black  shaggy  dog,  and  at 
others  in  the  form  of  a  black  man,  with  two  tall  and  equally- 
swarthy  companions,  each  carrying  an  iron  rod  in  his  hand.  It 
is  added  by  some  of  the  old  chroniclers,  that  her  offering  to  the 
demon  was  nine  red  cocks,  and  nine  peacocks’  eves,  at  a  certain 
stone  bridge  at  a  cross-road  ;  that  she  had  a  certain  ointment 
with  which  she  rubbed  a  beam  of  wood  “  called  a  cowltre,”  upon 
which  she  and  her  accomplices  were  carried  to  any  part  of  the 
world  they  wished,  without  hurt  or  stoppage  ;  that  “  she  swept 
the  stretes  of  Kilkennie  betweene  compleine  and  twilight,  raking 
all  the  filth  towards  the  doores  of  hir  sonne  William  Outlawe, 
murmuring  secretlie  with  hir  selfe  these  words  :  — 

‘  To  the  house  of  William  my  sonne, 

Hie  all  the  wealth  of  Kilkennie  town;’  ” 

and  that  in  her  house  was  seized  a  wafer  of  consecrated  bread, 
on  which  the  name  of  the  devil  was  written. 

The  bishop  of  Ossory  resolved  at  once  to  enforce  in  its  utmost 
rigor  the  recent  papal  bull  against  offenders  of  this  class  ;  but  he 
had  to  contend  with  greater  difficulties  than  he  expected.  The 
mode  of  proceeding  was  new,  for  hitherto  in  England  sorcery 
was  looked  upon  as  a  crime  of  which  the  secular  law  had  cog¬ 
nizance,  and  not  as  belonging  to  the  ecclesiastical  court;  and 
this  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  trial  of  the  kind  in  Ireland  that 


THE  LADY  ALICE  KYTELER. 


27 


had  attracted  any  public  attention.  Moreover,  the  lady  Alice, 
who  was  the  person  chiefly  attacked,  had  rich  and  powerful  sup¬ 
porters.  The  lirst  step  taken  by  the  bishop  was  to  require  the 
chancellor  to  issue  a  writ  for  the  arrest  of  the  persons  accused. 
But  it  happened  that  the  lord-chancellor  of  Ireland  at  this  time 
was  Roger  Outlawe,  prior  of  the  order  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem, 
and  a  kinsman  ot  \\  illiam  Outlawe.  This  dignitary,  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  Arnald  le  Poer,  seneschal  of  Kilkenny,  expostulated 
’wnh  the  bishop,  and  tried  to  persuade  him  to  drop  the  suit. 
When,  however,  the  latter  refused  to  listen  to  them,  and  persist¬ 
ed  in  demanding  the  writ,  the  chancellor  informed  him  that  it 
was  not  customary  to  issue  a  writ  of  this  kind,  until  the  parties 
had  been  regularly  proceeded  against  according  to  law.  The 
bishop  indignantly  replied  that  the  service  of  the  church  was 
above  the  forms  oi  the  law  ol  the  land ;  but  the  chancellor  now 
turned  a  deaf  ear,  and  the  bishop  sent  two  apparitors  with  a  for¬ 
mal  attendance  of  priests  to  the  house  of  William  Outlawe,  where 
Lady  Alice,  was  residing,  to  cite  her  in  person  before  his  court. 
The  lady  refused  to  acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  the  eccle¬ 
siastical  court  in  this  case  ;  and,  on  the  day  she  was  to  appear, 
the  chancellor,  Roger  Outlawe,  sent  advocates,  who  publicly 
pleaded  her  right  to  defend  herself  by  her  counsel,  and  not  to 
appear  in  person.  The  bishop,  regardless  of  this  plea,  pro¬ 
nounced  against  her  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  and  cited 
her  son,  William  Outlawe,  to  appear  on  a  certain  day,  and  an¬ 
swer  to  the  charge  of  harboring  and  concealing  his  mother  in 
defiance  of  the  authority  of  the  church. 

On  learning  this,  the  seneschal  of  Kilkenny,  Arnald  le  Poer, 
repaired  to  the  priory  ol  Kells,  where  the  bishop  was  lodged, 
and  made  a  long  and  touching  appeal  to  him  to  mitigate  his°an- 
ger,  until  at  length,  wearied  an'd  provoked  by  his  obstinacy,  he 
left  his  presence  with  threats  of  vengeance.  The  next  morning, 
as  the  bishop  was  departing  from  the  priory  to  continue  his  visi¬ 
tation  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese,  he  was  stopped  at  the  en¬ 
trance  to  the  town  of  Kells  by  one  of  the  seneschal’s  officers, 
Stephen  le  Poer,  with  a  body  of  armed  men,  who  conducted  him 
as  a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Kilkenny,  where  he  was  kept  in 
custody  until  the  day  was  past  on  which  William  Outlawe  had 
been  cited  to  appear  in  his  court.  The  bishop,  after  many  pro¬ 
tests  on  the  indignity  offered  in  his  person  to  the  church,  and  on 
llie  protection  given  to  sorcerers  and  heretics,  was  obliged  to 
submit.  It  was  a  mode  of  evading  the  form  of  law,  characteris¬ 
tic  of  an  age  in  which  the  latter  was  subservient  to  force,  and  the 


28 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


bishop’s  friends  believed  that  the  king’s  officers  were  bribed  by 
William  Outlawe’s  wealth.  They  even  reported  afterward,  to 
throw  more  discredit  on  the  authors  of  this  act  of  violence,  that 
one  of  the  guards  was  heard  to  sav  to  another,  as  they  led  him  to 
prison,  “  That  fair  steed  which  William  Outlawe  presented  to 
our  lord  Sir  Arnald  last  night  draws  well,  for  it  has  drawn  the 
bishop  to  prison.” 

This  summary  mode  of  proceeding  against  an  ecclesiastic, 
appears  to  have  caused  astonishment  even  in  Ireland,  and  during 
the  first  day  multitudes  of  people  of  all  classes  visited  the  bishop 
in  his  confinement,  to  feed  and  comfort  him,  the  general  ferment 
increasing  with  the  discourses  he  pronounced  to  his  visiters. 
To  hinder  this,  the  seneschal  ordered  him  to  be  more  strictly  con¬ 
fined,  and  forbade  the  admission  of  any  visiters,  except  a  few  of 
the  bishop’s  especial  friends  and  servants.  The  bishop  at  once 
placed  the  whole  diocese  under  an  interdict.  It  was  necessary 
to  prepare  immediately  some  excuse  for  these  proceedings,  and 
the  seneschal  issued  a  proclamation  calling  upon  all  who  had 
any  complaints  to  make  against  the  bishop  of  Ossory  to  come 
forward  ;  and  at  an  inquest  held  before  the  justices  itinerant, 
many  grievous  crimes  of  the  bishop  were  rehearsed,  but  none 
would  venture  personally  to  charge  him  with  them.  All  these 
circumstances,  however,  show  that  the  bishop  was  not  faultless  ; 
and  that  his  conduct  would  not  bear  a  very  close  examination,  is 
evident  from  the  fact,  that  on  more  than  one  occasion  in  subse¬ 
quent  times,  he  was  obliged  to  shelter  himself  under  the  protec¬ 
tion  of  the  king’s  pardon  for  all  past  offences.  William  Outlawe 
now  went  to  the  archives  of  Kilkenny,  and  there  found  a  former 
deed  of  accusation  against  the  bishop  of  Ossory  for  having  de¬ 
frauded  a  widow  of  the  inheritance  of  her  husband.  The  bishop’s 
party  said  that  it  was  a  cancelled  document,  the  case  having 
been  taken  out  of  the  secular  court ;  and  that  William  had  had 
a  new  copy  made  of  it  to  conceal  the  evidence  of  this  fact,  and 
had  then  rubbed  the  fresh  parchment  with  his  shoes  in  order  to 
give  his  copy  the  appearance  of  an  old  document.  However,  it 
was  delivered  to  the  seneschal,  who  now  off  ered  to  release  his  pris¬ 
oner  on  condition  of  his  giving  sufficient  bail  to  appear  and  an¬ 
swer  in  the  secular  court  the  charge  thus  brought  against  him. 
This  the  bishop  refused  to  do,  and  after  he  had  remained  eigh¬ 
teen  days  in  confinement,  he  was  unconditionally  set  free. 

The  bishop  marched  from  his  prison  in  triumph,  full-dressed 
in  his  pontifical  robes,  and  immediately  cited  William  Outlawe 
to  appear  before  him  in  his  court  on  another  day  ;  but  before  that 


THE  LADY  ALICE  KYTELER. 


29 


day  arrived,  he  received  a  royal  writ,  ordering  him  to  appear  be¬ 
fore  the  lord-justice  of  Ireland  without  any  delay,  on  penalty  of  a 
line  of  a  thousand  pounds,  to  answer  to  the  king  for  having  placed 
his  diocese  under  interdict,  and  also  to  make  his  defence  against 
the  accusations  of  Arnald  le  Poer.  He  received  a  similar  sum¬ 
mons  from  the  dean  of  St.  Patrick’s,  to  appear  hefore  him  as  the 
vicarial  representative  of  the  archbishop  of  Dublin.  The  bishop 
of  Ossory  made  answer  that  it  was  not  safe  for  him  to  undertake 
the  journey,  because  his  way  lay  through  the  lands  and  lordship 
of  his  enemy,  Sir  Arnald,  but  this  excuse’  was  not  admitted,  and 
the  diocese  was  relieved  from  the  interdict. 

Other  trials  were  reserved  for  the  mortified  prelate.  On  the 
Monday  after  the  octaves  of  Easter,  the  seneschal,  Arnald  le 
Poer,  held  his  court  of  justice  in  the  judicial  hall  of  the  city  of 
Kilkenny,  and  there  the  bishop  of  Ossory  resolved  to  present 
himself  and  invoke  publicly  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm  to  his 
assistance  in  seizing  the  persons  accused  of  sorcery.  The  sen¬ 
eschal  forbade  him  to  enter  the  court  on  his  peril ;  but  the  bish¬ 
op  persevered,  and  “  robed  in  his  pontificals,  carrying  in  his 
hands  the  body  of  Christ  (the  consecrated  host),  in  a  vessel  of 
gold,  ”  and  attended  by  a  numerous  body  of  friars  and  clergy,  he 
entered  the  hall  and  forced  his  way  to  the  tribunal.  The  sen¬ 
eschal  received  him  with  reproaches  and  insults,  and  caused  him 
to  be  ignominiously  turned  out  of  court.  At  the  repeated  protest, 
however,  of  the  offended  prelate,  and  the  intercession  of  some 
influential  persons  there  present,  he  was  allowed  to  return,  and 
the  seneschal  ordered  him  to  take  his  place  at  the  bar  allotted 
for  criminals,  upon  which  the  bishop  cried  out  that  Christ  had 
nei  er  been  treated  so  before  since  he  stood  at  the  bar  before  Pon¬ 
tius  I  date.  He  then  called  upon  the  seneschal  to  cause  the  per¬ 
sons  accused  of  sorcery  to  be  seized  upon  and  delivered  into  his 
hands,  and,  upon  his  refusal  to  do  this,  he  held  open  the  book 
of  the  decretals  and  said,  “You,  Sir  Arnald,  are  a  knight,  and 
instructed  in  letters,  and  that  you  may  not  have  the  plea  of  igno¬ 
rance  in  this  place,  we  are  prepared  here  to  show  in  these&de- 
cietals  that  you  and  your  officials  are  bounckto  obey  my  order  in 
this  respect  under  heavy  penalties.” 

“  Go  to  the  church  with  your  decretals,”  replied  the  seneschal, 
“  and  preach  there,  for  here  you  will  not  find  an  attentive  au¬ 
dience.” 

.The  bishop  then  read  aloud  the  names  of  the  offenders,  and  the 
crimes  imputed  to  them,  summoned  the  seneschal  to  deliver  them 
up  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  church,  and  retreated  from  the  court. 

3* 


•30 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Sir  Arnald  le  Poer  and  his  friends  had  not  been  idle  on  their 
part,  and  the  bishop  was  next  cited  to  defend  himself  against  va¬ 
rious  charges  in  the  parliament  to  be. held  at  Dublin,  while  the 
lady  Alice  indicted  him  in  a  secular  court  for  defamation.  The 
bishop  is  represented  as  having  narrowly  escaped  the  snares 
which  were  laid  for  him  on  his  way  to  Dublin  ;  he  there  found 
the  Irish  prelates  not  much  inclined  to  advocate  his  cause,  be¬ 
cause  they  looked  upon  him  as  a  foreigner  and  an  interloper,  and 
he  was  spoken  of  as  a  truant  monk  from  England,  who  came 
thither  to  represent  tlid  “  Island  of  Saints”  as  a  nest  of  heretics, 
and  to  plague  them  with  papal  bulls  of  which  they  never  heard 
before.  It  was,  however,  thought  expedient  to  preserve  the  credit 
of  the  church,  and  some  of  the  more  influential  of  the  Irish  ec¬ 
clesiastics  interfered  to  effect  at  least  an  outward  reconciliation 
between  the  seneschal  and  the  bishop  of  Ossorv.  After  encoun¬ 
tering  an  infinity  of  new  obstacles  and  disappointments,  the  lat¬ 
ter  at  length  obtained  the  necessary  power  to  bring  the  alleged 
offenders  to  a  trial,  and  most  of  them  were  imprisoned,  but  the 
chief  object  of  the  bishop’s  proceedings,  the  lady  Alice,  had  been 
conveyed  secretly  away,  and  she  is  said  to  have  passed  the  rest 
of  her  life  in  England.  When  her  son,  William  Outlawe,  was 
cited  to  appear  before  the  bishop  in  his  court  in  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  at  Kilkenny,  he  went  “  armed  to  the  teeth”  with  all 
sorts  of  armor,  and  attended  with  a  very  formidable  company, 
and  demanded  a  copy  of  the  charges  objected  against  him,  which 
extended  through  thirty-four  chapters.  He  for  the  present  was 
allowed  to  go  at  large,  because  nobody  dared  to  arrest  him,  and 
when  the  officers  of  the  crown  arrived  they  showed  so  openly 
their  favor  toward  him  as  to  take  up  their  lodgings  at  his  house. 
At  length,  however,  having  been  convicted  in  the  bishop’s  court 
at  least  of  harboring  those  accused  of  sorcery,  he  consented  to 
go  into  prison,  trusting  probably  to  the  secret  protection  of  the 
great  barons  of  the  land. 

The  only  person  mentioned  by  name  as  punished  for  the  ex¬ 
treme  crime  of  sorcery  was  Petronilla  de  Meath,  who  was,  per¬ 
haps,  less  provided  »with  worldly  interests  to  protect  her,  and 
who  appears  to  have  been  made  an  expiatory  sacrifice  for  her 
superiors.  She  was,  by  order  of  the  bishop  six  times  flogged, 
and  then,  probably  to  escape  a  further  repetition  of  this  cruel  and 
degrading  punishment,  she  made  public  confession,  accusing  not 
only* herself  but  all  the  others  against  whom  the  bishop  had  pro¬ 
ceeded.  She  said  that  in  all  England,  “  perhaps  in  the  whole 
world,”  there  was  not  a  person  more  deeply  skilled  in  the  prac- 


THE  LADY  ALICE  KYTELER. 


31 


tices  of  sorcery  than  the  lady  Alice  Kyteler,  Avho  had  been  their 
mistress  and  teacher  in  the  art.  She  confessed  to  most  of  the 
charges  contained  in  the  bishop’s  articles  of  accusation,  and  said 
that  she  had  been  present  at  the  sacrifices  to  the  demon,  and  had 
assisted  in.  making  the  unguents  of  the  intestines  of  the  cocks 
offered  on  this  occasion,  mixed  with  spiders  and  certain  black 
worms  like  scorpions,  with  a  certain  herb  called  millefoil,  and 
other  herbs  and  worms,  and  with  the  brains  and  clothes  of  a  child 
that  had  died  without  baptism,  in  the  manner  before  related  ;  that 
with  these  unguents  they  had  produced  various  effects  upon  dif¬ 
ferent  persons,  making  the  faces  of  certain  ladies  appear  horned 
like  goats  ;  that  she  had  been  present  at  the  nightly  conventicles, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  her  mistress  had  frequently  pronounced 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  her  own  husband,  with 
all  the  ceremonies  required  by  their  unholy  rites  ;  that  she  had 
been  with  the  lady  Alice  when  the  demon,  Robin  Artisson,  ap¬ 
peared  to  her,  and  had  seen  acts  pass  between  them,  in  her  pres¬ 
ence,  which  we  shall  not  undertake  to  describe.  The  wretched 
woman,  having  made  this  public  confession,  was  carried  out  into 
the  city  and  publicly  burnt.  This,  says  the  relator,  was  the  first 
witch  who  was  ever  burnt  in  Ireland. 

The  rage  of  the  bishop  of  Ossory  appears  now  to  have  been, 
to  a  certain  decree,  appeased.  He  was  prevailed  upon  to  remit 
the  offences  of  William  Outlawe,  enjoining  him,  as  a  reparation 
for  his  contempt  of  the  church,  that  within  the  period  of  four 
years  he  should  cover  with  lead  the  whole  roof  of  his  cathedral 
from  the  steeple  eastward,  as  well  as  that  of  the  chapel  of  the 
holy  Virgin.  The  rest  of  the  lady  Alice’s  “pestiferous  society” 
were  punished  in  different  ways,  with  more  or  less  severity  ;  one 
or  two  of  them,  we  are  told,  were  subsequently  burnt;  others 
were  flogged  publicly  in  the  market-place  and  through  the  city  ; 
others  were  banished  from  the  diocese  ;  and  a  few,  like  their 
mistress,  fled  to  a  distance,  or  concealed  themselves  so  effectual¬ 
ly  as  to  escape  the  hands  of  justice. 

There  w-as  one  person  concerned  in  the  foregoing  events  whom 
the  bishop  had  not  forgotten  or  forgiven.  That  was  Arnald  le 
Poer,  the  seneschal  of  Kilkenny,  who  had  so  strenuously  advo¬ 
cated  the  cause  of  William  Outlawe  and  his  mother,  and  who 
had  treated  with  so  much  rudeness  the  bishop  himself.  The 
Latin  narrative  of  this  history,  published  for  the  Camden  Society 
by  the  wrriter  of  this  paper,  gives  no  further  information  respect¬ 
ing  him,  but  wre  learn  from  other  sources  that  the  bishop  now 
accused  him  of  heresy,  had  him  excommunicated,  and  obtained 


39 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


a  writ  by  which  he  was  committed  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Dub¬ 
lin.  Here  he  remained  in  1328,  when  Roger  Outlaw e  was  made 
lord-justice  of  Ireland,  who  attempted  to  mitigate  his  sufferings. 
The  bishop  of  Ossory,  enraged  at  the  lord-justice’s  humanity, 
accused  him  also  of  heresy  and  of  abetting  heretics  ;  upon  which 
a  parliament  was  called,  and  the  different  accusations  having 
been  duly  examined,  Arnald  le  Poer  himself  would  probably  have 
been  declared  innocent  and  liberated  from  confinement,  but  be¬ 
fore  the  end  of  the  investigation  he  died  in  prison,  and  his  body, 
lying  under  sentence  of  excommunication,  remained  long  un¬ 
buried. 

The  bishop,  who  had  been  so  great  a  persecutor  of  heresy  in 
others,  was  at  last  accused  of  the  same  crime  himself,  ann  the 
case  being  laid  before  the  archbishop  of  Dublin,  he  appealed  to 
the  apostolic  see,  fled  the  country  privately,  and  repaired  to  Italy. 
Subsequent  to  this,  he  appears  to  have  experienced  a  variety  of 
troubles,  and  he  suffered  banishment  during  nine  ^ears.  He 
died  at  a  very  great  age  in  1360.  The  bishop’s  party  boasted 
that  the  “  nest”  of  sorcerers  who  had  infested  Ireland  was  entirely 
rooted  out  by  the  prosecution  of  the  lady  Alice  Kyteler  and  her 
accomplices.  It  may,  however,  be  well  doubted,  il  the  belief  in 
witchcraft  were  mot  rather  extended  by  the  publicity  and  magni¬ 
tude  of  these  events.  Ireland  would  no  doubt  afford  many  equal¬ 
ly  remarkable  cases  in  subsequent  times,  had  the  chroniclers 
thought  them  as  well  worth  recording  as  the  process  of  a  lady  of 
rank,  which  involved  some  of  the  leading  people  in  the  English 
pale,  and  which  agitated  the  whole  state  during  several  succes¬ 
sive  years. 


TRIAL  OF  BONIFACE  VIII. 


33 


CHAPTER  III. 

FURTHER  POLITICAL  USAGE  OF  THE  BELIEF  IN  SORCERY. - THE 

TEMPLARS. 

The  history  of  the  lady  Alice  Ivyteler  is  one  of  the  most  re¬ 
markable  examples  that  the  middle  ages  have  left  us  of  the  use 
which  might  be  made  of  popular  superstition  as  a  means  of  op¬ 
pression  or  vengeance,  when  other  more  legitimate  means  were 
wanting.  France  and  Italy  had,  however,  recently  presented  a 
case  in  which  the  belief  in  sorcery  had  been  used  as  a  weapon 
against  a  still  higher  personage. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  a  detailed  history  of  the  quar¬ 
rel  between  the  French  monarch,  Philippe  le  Bel,  and  the  pope, 
Boniface  VIII.  It.  originated  in  the  determination  of  the  king  to 
check  in  his  own  dominions  the  power  and  insolence  of  the 
church,  and  the  ambitious  pretensions  of  the  see  of  Rome.  In 
1303,  Philippe’s  ministers  and  agents,  having  collected  pretended 
evidence  in  Italy,  boldly  accused  Boniface  of  heresy  and  sor¬ 
cery ;  and  the  king  called  a  council  at  Paris,  to  hear  witnesses 
and  pronounce  judgment.  The  pope  resisted,  and  refused  to  ac¬ 
knowledge  a  council  not  called  by  himself ;  but  the  insults  and 
outrages  to  which  he  was  exposed  proved  too  much  for  him,  and 
he  died  the  same  year,  in  the  midst  of  these  vindictive  proceed¬ 
ings.  His  enemies  spread  abroad  a  report  that  in  his  last  mo¬ 
ments  he  had  confessed  his  league  with  the  demon,  and  that  his 
death  was  attended  with  “so  much  thunder  and  tempest,  with 
dragons  flying  in  the  air  and  vomiting  flames,  and  such  lightning 
and  other  prodigies,  that  the  people  of  Rome  believed  that  the 
whole  city  was  going  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the  abyss.”  His 
successor,  Benedict  XI.,  undertook  to  defend  his  memory;  but 
he  died  in  the  first  year  of  his  pontificate  (in  1304),  it  was  said 
by  poison,  and  the  holy  see  remained  vacant  during  eleven 
months.  In  the  middle  of  June,  1305,  a  Frenchman,  the  arch¬ 
bishop  of  Bordeaux,  was  elected  to  the  papal  chair  under  the  title 
of  Clement  V. 

It  was  understood  that  Clement  was  raised  to  the  papacy  in  a 
great  measure  by  the  king’s  influence,  who  is  said  to  have  stipu¬ 
lated,  as  one  of  the  conditions,  that  he  should  allow  of  the  pro- 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


O  * 

Oi 

ceedings  against  Boniface,  which  Avere  to  make  his  memory 
infamous.  Preparations  were  again  made  to  carry  on  the  trial 
of  Boniface,  but  the  king’s  necessities  compelled  him  to  seek 
other  boons'  of  the  supreme  pontiff,  in  consideration  of  which  he 
agreed  to  drop  the  prosecution  ;  and  at  last,  in  1312,  Boniface 
was  declared  in  the  council  of  Yienne  innocent  of  all  the  offences 
Avith  Avhich  he  had  been  charged. 

Whatever  may  haA'e  been  Boniface’s  faults,  to  screen  the  repu¬ 
tation  of  a  pope  was  to  save  the  character  of  the  church.  If  we 
may  place  any  faith  at  all  in  the  Avitnesses  who  Avere  adduced 
against  him,  Boniface  Avas  at  bottom  a  free-thinker,  Avho  con¬ 
cealed  under  the  mitre  the  spirit  of  mockery  Avhich  afterward 
shone  forth  in  his  countryman  Rabelais,  and  that  in  moments  of 
relaxation,  especially  among  those  Avith  Avhom  he  Avas  familiar, 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  speaking  in  bold,  even  in  cynical  language, 
of  things  which  the  church  regarded  as  sacred.  Persons  were 
brought  forward  who  deposed  to  having  heard  expressions  from 
the  lips  of  the  pope,  which,  if  not  invented  or  exaggerated,  savor 
of  infidelity,  and  even  of  atheism.  Other  persons  deposed  that 
it  was  commonly  reported  in  Italy  that  Boniface  had  communica¬ 
tion  with  demons,  to  Avhom  he  offered  his  Avorship,  Avhom  he 
bound  to  his  service  by  necromancy,  and  hv  whose  agency  he 
acted.*  They  said  further,  that  he  had  been  heard  to  hold  con¬ 
versation  with  spirits  in  the  night;  that  he  had  a  certain  “  idol,” 
in  which  a  “diabolical  spirit”  was  enclosed,  Avhom  he  Avas  in 
the  habit  of  consulting;  while  others  said  that  he  had  a  demon 
enclosed  in  a  ring  which  he  wore  on  his  linger. f  The  Av.il nesses 
in  general  spoke  of  these  reports  only  as  things  which  they  had 
heard  ;  but  one,  a  friar,  brother  Bernard  de  Sorano,  deposed  that 
Avhen  Boniface  was  a  cardinal,  and  held  the  ollice  of  notary  to 

*  Quod  ipse  thurisabat  et  sacrificnbat  daemouibus,  et  spiritus  diabolicos  citcndo 
arte  nigromantica  constringebat,  et  quicquid  agebat  per  actus  diabolicos  exercebat. 
— Dirpny,  Preuves,  p.  528. 

t  Audivit  dici  quod  ipse  Bonifacius  utebatur  consilio  dmmonum,  et  habebat  das- 
monem  inclusion  in  annulo.  According  to  the  popular  report,  spread  abroad  by  bis 
enemies,  when  Boniface  was  dying,  be  tor  •  this  ring  from  his  linger,  and  dashed  it 
on  the  ground,  repioaebiug  the  demon  with  having  deserted  bin)  at  bis  greatest 
need. 

Spirits  confined  in  rings  are  often  mentioned  among  the  magical  operations  of  the 
middle  ages,  and  occur  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  when 
such  rings  appear  to  have  been  brought  from  Spain,  the  seat  of  the  ancient  celebra¬ 
ted  school  of  magicians.  Bodinus  (Damionomanin,  lib.  ii ,  c.  3)  speaks  of  a  magician 
condemned  in  the  duchy  of  Gueldies,  in  1548,  who  bad  a  demon  confined  in  a  ring 
(daunouem  sibi  esse  inclusum  annulo  fatebatur)  ;  and  be  mentions  as  having  come 
within  bis  own  knowledge  the  case  of  a  man  who  bought  of  a  Spaniard  a  spirit 
with  a  ring. — (lb  ,  lib.  iii.,  c.  6.)  Magical  rings  are  by  no  means  uncommon  in  the 
cabinets  of  collectors. 


HERETICS  AT  ORLEANS. 


35 


Nicholas  III.,  he  lay  with  the  papal  army  before  the  castle  of 
Puriano,  and  he  (brother  Bernard)  was  sent  to  receive  the  sur¬ 
render  of  the  castle.  He  returned  with  the  cardinal  to  Viterbo, 
where  he  was  lodged  in  the  palace.  Late  one  night,  as  he  and 
the  cardinal’s  chamberlain  were  looking  out  of  the  window  of 
the  room  he  occupied,  they  saw  Benedict  of  Gaeta  (which  was 
Boniface’s  name  before  he  rvas  made  pope)  enter  a  garden  ad¬ 
joining  the  palace,  alone,  and  in  a  mysterious  manner.  Pie  made 
a  circle  on  the  ground  with  a  sword,  and  placed  himself  in  the 
middle,  having  with  him  a  cock,  and  a  fire  in  an  earthen  pot  (in 
quadarn  olla  terrea ).  Having  seated  himself  in  the  middle  of  the 
circle,  he  killed  the  cock  and  threw  its  blood  in  the  fire,  from 
which  smoke  immediately  issued,  while  Benedict  road  in  a  cer¬ 
tain  book  to  conjure  demons.  Presently  brother  Bernard  heard 
a  great  noise  (rumorcm  magnum. ),  and  was  much  terrified.  Then 
he  could  distinguish  the  voice  of  some  one  saying,  “  Give  us  the 
share,”  upon  which  Benedict  took  the  cock,  threw  it  out  of  the 
garden,  and  walked  away  without  uttering  a  word.  Though  he 
met  several  persons  on  his  way,  he  spoke  to  nobody,  but  pro¬ 
ceeded  immediately  to  a  chamber  near  that  of  brother  Bernard, 
and  shut  himself  up.  Bernard  declared  that,  though  he  knew 
there  was  nobody  in  the  room  with  the  cardinal,  he  not  only 
heard  him  all  night  talking,  but  he  could,  distinctly  perceive  a 
strange  voice  answering  him.  This  voice,  of  course,  was  that 
of  a  demon.* 

The  same  charge  that  had  been  brought  forward  to  confound 
Pope  Boniface,  was  made  a  principal  ground  of  persecution 
against  the  templars.  It  was  by  no  means  the  first  time  that 
people  who  associated  together  thus  in  mutual  confidence,  or  for 
mutual  support  and  protection,  were  branded  with  the  accusation 
of  holding  intercourse  with  demons,  as  we  have  already  seen  in 
the  case  of  the  Waldenses,  who  were  hated  for  their  heresy,  and 
the  Routiers,  who  were  detested  for  their  outrages.  We  might 
easily  collect  other  examples.  A  French  antiquary,  M.  Guerard, 
has  printed,  in  the  cartulary  of  St.  Peter’s  at  Chartres,  a  docu¬ 
ment  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  eleventh  century,  which  describes 
a  sect  of  heretics  that  had  arisen  in  the  city  of  Orleans,  whose 
proceedings  are  described  as  too  horrible  to  be  translated  here 
from  the  original  Latin  of  the  narrator. f  Just  two  centuries  later, 

*  All  the  documents  relating'  to  the  trial  of  this  pope  have  been  collected  and 
printed  by  Dupuy.  in  his  “  Histuire  du  Different  de  Boniface  VIII.  avec  Philippe  le 
Bel,”  4to. 

t  Oongregabantur  siquidem  certis  noctibus  in  dome  denominnta,  singnli  lucernas 
tenentes  in  mauibus,  et,  ad  instar  tetanias,  daemonum  uornina  declamabant,  donee 


30 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  Steding,  the  modern  Oldenberg, 
a  race  of  people  who  lived  in  sturdy  independence,  were  at  vari¬ 
ance  with  the  archbishop  of  Bremen.  The  quarrel  had  arisen 
from  disputed  claims  to  tithes  of  the  land  and  the  right  of  hunt¬ 
ing  in  their  forests.  The  archbishop  resented  this  contempt  ol 
the  church,  declared  that  the  Stedingers  were  heretics,  and  pro¬ 
claimed  a  crusade  against,  them.  At  first  they  contended  with 
success  against  their  enemies,  repulsed  them  with  valor,  and  ior 
some  years  set  the  archbishop  at  defiance.  But  Archbishop  Ge¬ 
rard,  who  came  to  the  see  oi  Bremen  in  1219,  resolved  to  sup¬ 
press  them.  One  day,  a  greedy  priest,  who  had  been  offended 
at  the  small  fee  given  him  by  a  noble  lady  ot  this  country  alter 
confession,  took  his  revenge  by  thrusting  the  money  into  her 
mouth  instead  of  the  consecrated  host,  when  she  was  communi¬ 
cating.  The  husband  of  the  lady  resented  this  affront  by  slaying 
the  priest.  The  archbishop  launched  against  the  murderer  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  ;  but  he  set  the  power  of  the  church 
at  defiance,  and  the  Stedingers  rose  up  in  his  cause.  The  arch¬ 
bishop,  with  the  assistance  of  the  neighboring  princes,  invaded 
their  district ;  but  they  resisted  with  so  much  coinage,  that  he 
was  driven  back. 

The  archbishop  now  applied  to  the  pope,  and  accused  the 
Stedingers  of  being  obstinate  heretics.  Gregory  IA.,  who  at 
that  time  occupied  the  papal  chair,  addressed  a  bull,  in  12d2,  to 
the  bishops  of  Minden,  Lubeck,  and  Ratzeburg,  ordering  them  to 
preach  a  crusade  against  the  offending  population  ;  and  in  the 
year  following  a  second  bull  was  addressed  to  the  bishops  of 
Paderborn,  Hildesheim,  Verden,  Munster,  and  Osnabruck,  which 
reputed  this  order  more  pressingly,  and  gave  the  special  charge 
of  the  war  to  the  archbishop  of  Maintz  and  Conrad  of  Marburg. 
In  the  year  1234,  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men  overran  and 
laid  waste  the  district  of  Steding  ;  a  considerable  portion  ot  the 
population  fell  in  battle,  and  the  rest  engaged  to  make  reparation 
to  the  archbishop,  and  to  be  obedient  to  him  in  future,  and  they 

snbito  daemonem  in  similitudine  cnjuslibet  bestiolae  inter  cos  viderent  descendere. 
Qui  statim  ut  visibilis  ilia  videbatur  visio,  omnibus  extinctis  luminanbus,  quam  pn- 
mum  quisque  poterat  mulierem  quse  ad  manum  sibi  veniebat,  ad  abutendum  arri- 
piebat,  sine  peccati  respectu  et  utmm  mater  aut  soror  aut  monacha  habereter  ;  pro 
sanctitate  ac  religione  ejus  concubitus  ab  illia  arstimabatur.  Ex  quo  spurcissimo 
concubitu  infans  generatus,  octava  die  in  medio  eorum  copioso  igne  accenso  piaba- 
tur  per  ignem,  more  antiquorum  paganorum,  et  sic  in  igne  cremabatur.  Oujus  cans 
tanta  venerations  colligebatur  atquc  custodiebatnr,  ut  Christiana  teligiositas  c.otpus 
Christi  custodiri  solet,  segris  dandum  de  hoc  seculo  exituris  ad  viaticum.  Inerat 
enira  tanta  vis  diabolic®  fraudis  in  ipso  oinere.  ut,  quicunque  de  prffif  ata  hasiesi  1111- 
butus  fuesset  etde  eodem  cinere  quamvis  sumendo  parum  praelibaviseet,  vix  uiiquam 
postea  de  eaderu  boeresi  gressum  mentis  ad  viam  veritatis  dirigere  valeret. 


THE  STEDINGERS. 


37 


were  thereupon  released  from  the  sentence  of  excommunica¬ 
tion. 

When  the  archbishop  of  Bremen  invented  the  charge  of  heresy 
against  the  Stedingers,  he  seems  to  have  culled  from  the  ac¬ 
counts  of  the  heresies  of  the  primitive  church  a  choice  collection 
of  horrible  accusations.  In  the  pope’s  first  bull,  the  Stedingers  were 
accused  of  contempt  and  hostility  toward  the  church ;  of  savage 
barbarity,  especially  toward  monks  ;  of  scorning  the  sacrament ; 
and  of  holding  communication  with  demons,  making  images  of 
wax,  and  consulting  with  witches.  But  Gregory’s  second  bull 
contains  more  details  of  the  charges  brought  against  them,  and 
gives  the  following  strange  and  wild  accoynt  of  the  ceremonies 
attending  the  initiation  of  a  new  convert  into  their  sect.  When 
the  novice  was  first  introduced  into  their  “  school,”  we  are  told  a 
toad  made  its  appearance,  which  they  kissed,  some  behind,  and 
others  on  the  mouth  ;  and  they  drew  its  tongue  and  spittle  into 
their  mouths.  Sometimes  this  toad  appeared  of  a  natural  size  ; 
at  other  times  it  was  as  big  as  a  goose  or  duck  ;  but  its  usual 
size  was  that  of  an  oven.  As  the  novice  proceeded,  he  was  met 
by  a  man,  who  was  wonderfully  pale,  with  great  black  eyes,  and 
his  body  so  wasted  and  thin,  that  his  flesh  seemed  to  be  all  gone, 
and  he  appeared  to  have  nothing  but  skin  hanging  upon  his  bones. 
The  novice  kissed  this  creature,  and  found  that  he  was  as  cold 
as  ice  ;  and  “  after  the  kiss,  all  remembrance  of  the  catholic  faith 
vanished  entirely  from  his  heart.”  Then  they  all  sat  down  to 
the  banquet,  and  when  they  rose  again,  there  stepped  out  of  a 
statue,  which  was  usually  found  in  these  schools,  a  black  cat, 
double  the  size  of  a  moderate  dog :  it  came  backward,  with  its 
tail  turned  up.  The  novice  first,  then  the  master,  and  afterward 
the  others,  one  after  another,  kissed*  the  cat  as  it  presented  it¬ 
self  ;  and  when  they  had  returned  to  their  places,  they  remained 
in  silence,  with  their  heads  inclined  toward  the  cat,  and  the  mas¬ 
ter  suddenly  pronounced  the  words,  “  Save  us.”  He  addressed 
this  to  the  next  in  order,  and  the  third  answered,  “  We  know  it, 
lord;”  upon  which  a  fourth  added,  “We  have  to  obey.”  After 
this  ceremony  was  performed,  the  candles  were  extinguished, 
and  they  proceeded  indiscriminately  to  acts  which  can  hardly  be 
described.  When  this  was  over,  the  candles  were  again  lighted, 
and  they  resumed  their  places  ;  and  then  out  of  a  dark  corner  of 
the  room  came  a  man,  the  upper  part  of  whom,  above  the  loins, 
was  bright  and  radiant  as  the  sun,  and  the  lower  part  was  rough 
and  hairy  like  a  cat,  and  his  brightness  illuminated  the  whole 
room.  Then  the  master  tore  off  a  bit  of  the  garment  of  the  nov- 

4 


33 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


ice,  and  said  to  the  shining  personage,  Master,  this  is  given  to 
me,  and  I  give  it  again  to  thee;"  to  which  he  replied,  “  1  hou 
hast  served  me  well,  and  thou  wilt  serve  me  more  and  better ; 
what  thou  hast  given  me,  I  give  into  thy  keeping.”  Immediately 
after  this  the  shining  personage  vanished,  and  the  meeting  broke 
up.  The  bull  further  charges  these  people  with  worshipping 
Lucifer;  and  contains  other  articles,  evidently  borrowed  from 
ths  creed  of  the  ancient  gnostics  and  Manichaeans,  and  their  km- 
cjrecj  sects. 

JSucli  is  the  statement  gravely  made  in  a  formal  instrument  by 
the  head  of  the  church.  At  the  first  outbreak  oi  the  quarrei  be¬ 
tween  the  Stedingers  p.nd  the  see  of  Bremen,  no  one  appears  to 
have  thought  of  charging  them  with  these  horrible  acts.  I  hey 
were  invented  only  when  the  force  which  the  archbishop  could 
command  was  not  sufficient  to  reduce  them ;  and  singularly 
enough,  when  they  had  submitted,  the  charge  of  heresy,  with  ad 
its  concomitant  scandals,  seems  to  have  been  entirely  forgotten. 
The  archbishop  of  Bremen  with  the  Stedingers,  like  Philippe  le 
Bel  with  the  templars,  began  by  defaming  the  cause  which  he 
wished  to  destroy.  The  prelate  was  incited  by  the  love  of  tem¬ 
poral  authority,  the  king  by  the  want  of  gold. 

The  military  order  of  the  templars  was  founded  early  m  the 
twelfth  century,  for  the  protection  of  the  holy  sepulchre  ;  its 
members,  by  their  conduct,  merited  the  eulogy  of  St.  Bernard, 
and  on  many  occasions  their  bravery  saved  the  Christian  inte¬ 
rests  in  the  East.  But  the  order  soon  became  extraordinarily 
rich,  and  wealth,  as  usual,  brought  with  it  a  host  of  coiruptions 
and  ? attendant  vices.  The  writers  of  the  twelfth  century  com¬ 
plain  that  the  templars  had  degenerated  much  from  the  virtue 
which  originally  characterized  the  order;  and  in  the  century  fol¬ 
lowing  “the  pride  of  a  templar”  became  a  proverbial  saying. 
The  new  knight  was  received  into  the  order  at  a  private  initia¬ 
tion,  with  various  forms  and  ceremonies,  having  partly  a  literal 
and  partly  a  symbolical  meaning.  Some  of  these  appear  to  have 
been  repeated  and  corrupted  after  their  real  intention  was  forgot¬ 
ten  ;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  in  the  course  of  the  familiar  re¬ 
lations  which  they  are  said  to  have  held  with  the  infidels,  some 
of  them  may  have  learned  and  adopted  many  doctrines  and  prac¬ 
tices  which  were  inconsistent  with  their  profession."  It  is  cer- 

*  Some  years  a<ro.  Von  Hammer  Piirgstall,  in  an  elaborate  cseav  published  in  the 
Fnndffiiiben  des  Orients,  attempted  to  show  from  medieval  monuments,  that  the 
order  of  the  templars  was  infested  with  gnosticism  :  but  bis  error  1ms  been  pointed 
out  by  more  than  one  subsequent  writer.  In  fact,  Von  Hammer  totally  misunder¬ 
stood  the  character  ol  the  monuments  on  which  he  built  his  theory. 


TH E  KNIGH TS-TEMPLA RS. 


39 


tain,  that  before  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  rumors  were 
spread  abroad  of  strange  practices,  and  still  stranger  vices,  in 
which  the  templars  were  said  to  indulge.  The  mysterious  se¬ 
crecy  which  they  maintained,  their  pride,  riches,  and  power, 
were  quite  sufficient  grounds  in  a  superstitious  age  for  such 
charges.  Their  power  made  them  an  object  of  alarm  to  the  sov¬ 
ereigns  of  the  various  countries  in  which  they  were  established, 
but  their  riches  proved  the  cause  of  their  final  doom. 

The  treasury  of  Philippe  le  Bel  had  been  long  exhausted,  and 
he  had  already  tried  a  variety  of  expedients  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  money,  when,  in  the  first  years  ol  the  fourteenth  century, 
he  determined  to  recruit  his  finances  by  seizing  the  immense 
property  of  the  templars.  The  sinister  reports,  already  believed 
by  many,  were  encouraged  ;  vague  complaints  against  the  corrup¬ 
tions  of  the  templars  were  carried  to  the  pope,  and  the  king  of 
France  urged  that  an  inquiry  should  be  instituted.  At  length 
one  or  more  knights  of  the  order  -were  induced  to  make  a  volun¬ 
tary  confession  of  the  enormities  which  they  pretended  were 
practised  by  the  templars  in  their  secret  conclaves,  and  then  the 
pontiff  yielded  to  the  urgent  demands  of  King  Philippe,  and 
agreed  that  they  should  be  brought  to  a  trial.  The  richest  pos¬ 
sessions  of  the  order  were  in  France,  for  the  Temple  in  Paris 
was  their  grand  central  establishment ;  and  hence  Philippe  le 
Bel  assumed  the  right  of  directing  and  presiding  over  the  process 
which  was  to  be  carried  on  against  them.  He  had  offered  him¬ 
self  as  a  candidate  for  admission  into  the  order,  and  been  refused. 

The  knights  themselves  appear  to  have  had  a  presentiment  of 
their  impending  fate,  and  to  have  been  alarmed  at  the  extent  of 
the  popular  feeling  against  them.  An  English  templar  meeting 
a  knight  who  had  been  newly  received  into  the  order,  inquired 
if  he  had  been  admitted,  and  the  latter  having  replied  affirma¬ 
tively,  he  added,  “  If  you  should  sit  on  the  to^  of  the  steeple  of 
St.  Paul’s  in  London,  you  should  not  be  able  to  see  greater  mis¬ 
fortunes  than  shall  happen  to  you  before  you  die.”  The  rumors 
against  the  order  were  increased  by  indiscreet  confessions  and 
boasts  of  a  few  individuals,  which  seemed  to  give  consistence  to 
them.  A  templar  had  said  to  one  who  did  not  belong  to  the 
order,  that  in  their  chapter-general  “  there  was  a  thing  in  secret 
that  if  any  one  had  the  misfortune  to  see  it,  even  were  it  the 
king  of  France  himself,  nothing  would  hinder  those  of  the  chap¬ 
ter  from  killing  him,  if  it  were  in  their  power.”  Another  said, 
“  We  have  three  articles  among  us  in  our  order,  which  none 
will  ever  know,  except  God  and  the  devil,  and  we  the  brethren 


40 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


of  the  order.”  Many  stories  were  reported  of  individuals  who 
had  been  secretly  put  to  death,  because  they  had  been  witnesses, 
by  design  or  accident,  of  the  secret  ceremonies  of  the  temple, 
and  of  the  terrible  dungeons  into  which  the  chiefs  of  the  order 
threw  its  disobedient  members.  One  of  the  knights  declared 
that  his  uncle  “  had  entered  the  order  in  good  health,  and  cheer¬ 
ful,  with  his  dogs  and  falcons,  and  that  in  three  days  he  was 
dead  and  one  witness  examined  before  the  commission  by 
which  the  cause  of  the  templars  was  tried,  deposed  that  he  had 
heard  several  templars  say  that  there  were  points  beside  those 
mentioned  in  the  public  rules  of  the  order,  “  which  they  would 
not  mention  for  their  heads.” 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1307,  the  king  of  France  struck  the 
blow  which  he  had  been  some  time  contemplating.  He  invited 
the  grand  master,  Jaques  de  Molay,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  order 
in  France,  to  Paris,  under  pretence  of  showing  them  his  favor, 
and  received  them  with  every  mark  of  attachment.  After  hav¬ 
ing  acted  as  godfather  to  one  of  the  king’s  sons,  the  grand  master 
was  one  of  the  pall-bearers  at  the  burial  of  his  sister-in-law  on 
the  twelfth  of  October.  Next  day,  Jaques  de  Molay,  and  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  forty  templars  who  were  in  Paris  on  this  occasion, 
were  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison.  The  same  day  thirty 
were  arrested  at  Beaucaire,  and  immediately  afterward  the  tem¬ 
plars  in  all  parts  of  France  were  seized.  The  publication  of 
scandalous  reports,  the  invectives  of  the  monkish  preachers,  an 
inflammatory  letter  of  the  king,  every  method  was  employed  to 
excite  the  people  against  them.  The  grand  master,  and  some  of 
the  principal  brethren  of  the  order  arrested  in  Paris,  were  carried 
before  the  university,  and  examined  on  certain  articles  of  accusa¬ 
tion,  founded,  it  was  said,  on  the  voluntary  confession  of  two 
knights  of  the  order,  a  Gascon  and  an  Italian,  who,  imprisoned 
for  some  offences  against  the  law,  had  revealed  the  secrets  of  the 
order.  These  pretended  secrets  were  now  made  public,  proba¬ 
bly  with  much  exaggeration  and  addition.  The  templars  were 
accused  of  renouncing  the  faith  of  the  church,  and  of  spitting  and 
trampling  upon  the  cross,  of  using  ceremonies  of  a  disgusting 
character  at  their  initiations,  and  of  secret  practices  of  the  most 
revolting  description.  The  general  character  of  the  act  of  accu¬ 
sation  against  the  templars  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  that  of 
the  earlier  bull  against  the  Stedingers.  It  was  said  that  they 
worshipped  the  evil  one  in  the  shape  of  an  idol,  which  they 
looked  upon  as  the  patron  of  their  order,  and  as  the  author  of  all 
their  riches  and  prosperity,  and  that  they  were  individually  pro- 


THE  KNIGHTS-TEMPLARS. 


41 


tected  by  a  cord  that  had  been  passed  with  mystic  ceremony 
round  the  idol,  and  which  they  wore  as  a  girdle  at  the  waist. 
This  idol  they  were  accused  of  consecrating,  by  anointing  it  with 
the  fat  of  a  new-born  infant,  the  illegitimate  offspring  of  a  brother 
of  the  order.*  A  more  rational  charge  was  that,  founded  on  the 
intimate  intercourse  with  the  Saracens,  of  having  betrayed  the 
Christians  of  the  East  to  their  unbelieving  enemies.  They  were 
even  accused  of  having  entered  into  the  service  of  the  sultan. 
It  was  said,  further,  that  they  refused  to  receive  the  sacraments 
from  those  who  were  alone  authorized  by  the  church  to  commu¬ 
nicate  them,  and  that  they  confessed  only  to  one  another  and  to 
their  chiefs. 

The  process  dragged  on  slowly  during  more  than  three  years, 
in  consequence  of  the  jealousies  which  arose  among  those  who 
were  more  or  less  interested  in  its  prosecution.  1  he  pope 
wished  to  bring  it  entirely  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  church, 
and  to  have  it  decided  at  Rome.  The  king,  on  the  other  hand, 
mistrusting  the  pope,  and  resolved  on  the  destruction  of  the  order, 
and  that  none  but  himself  should  reap  the  advantage  ol  it,  de¬ 
cided  that  it  should  be  judged  at  Paris  under  his  own  personal 
influence.  The  prosecution  was  directed  by  his  ministers,  No- 
garet  and  Enguerrand  de  Marigny.  I  he  templars  asserted  their 
innocence,  and  demanded  a  fair  trial ;  but  they  found  few  advo¬ 
cates  who  would  undertake  their  defence,  and  they  were  sub¬ 
jected  to  hardships  and  tortures  which  forced  many  of  them  into 
confessions  dictated  to  them  by  their  persecutors.  During  this 
interval,  the  pope’s  orders  were  carried  into  other  countries,  or¬ 
dering  the  arrest  of  the  templars,  and  the  seizure  of  their  goods, 
and  everywhere  the  same  charges  were  brought  against  them, 
and  the  same  means  adopted  to  procure  their  condemnation, 
although  they  were  not  everywhere  subjected  to  the  same  sever¬ 
ity  as  in  France.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1316,  the  giand 
process  was  opened  in  Paris,  and  an  immense  number  of  tem¬ 
plars,  brought  from  all  parts  ot  the  kingdom,  underwent  a  public 
examination.  A  long  act  of  accusation  was  read,  some  oi  the 
heads  of  which  were,  that  the  templars,  at  their  reception  into 
the  order,  denied  Christ,  and  sometimes  they  denied  expressly 
all  the  saints,  declaring  that  he  was  not  God  truly,  but  a  false 
prophet,  a  man  who  had  been  punished  for  his  crimes  ;  that  they 


f  Car  encore  faisoient-il  pis,  car  un  enfant  nouvel  entendre  d’un  templier  en  une 
pucelle  estoit  cuit  et  rosti  au  fen,  et  toute  la  gresse  ostee  ;  et  <le  celle  estoit  sacree 
ct  ointe  Ieur  ydole. — Les  grandes  Chroniqy.es  de  bt.  Denis,  ed.  de  I  auliu  I  aus, 
tom.  v.,  p.  190. 


42 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


had  no  hope  of  salvation  through  him  ;  that  they  always,  at  their 
initiation  into  the  order,  spit  upon  the  cross,  and  trod  it  under 
foot ;  that  they  did  this  especially  on  Good  Friday ;  that  they 
worshipped  a  certain  cat,  which  sometimes  appeared  to  them  in 
their  congregation  that  they  did  not  believe  in  any  ol  the  sac¬ 
raments  of  the  church ;  that  they  took  secret  oaths  which  they 
were  bound  not  to  reveal ;  that  the  brother  who  officiated  at  the 
reception  of  a  new  brother  kissed  the  naked  body  ol  the  latter, 
often  in  a  very  unbecoming  manner  ;  that  each  different  province  ol 
the  order  has  its  idol,  which  was  a  head,  having  sometimes  three 
faces,  and  at  others  only  one  ;  or  sometimes  a  human  skull  ;f 
these  idols  they  worshipped  in  their  chapters  and  congregations, 
believing  that  they  had  the  power  of  making  them  rich,  and  of 
causing  the  trees  to  flourish,  and  the  earth  to  become  fruitful; 
that  they  girt  themselves  with  cords,  with  which  these  idols  had 
been  superstitiously  touched ;  that  those  who  betrayed  the  se¬ 
crets  of  their  order,  or  were  disobedient,  were  thrown  into  pris¬ 
on,  and  often  put  to  death  ;  that  they  held  their  chapters  secretly 
and  by  night,  and  placed  a  watch  to  prevent  them  from  any  dan¬ 
ger  of  interruption  or  discovery;  and  that  they  believed  the 
grand-master  alone  had  the  power  of  absolving  them  from  their 
sins.  The  publication  of  these  charges,  and  the  agitation  which 
had  been  designedly  got  up,  created  such  a  horror  throughout 
France,  that  the  templars  who  died  during  the  process  were 
treated  as  condemned  heretics,  and  burial  in  consecrated  ground 
was  refused  to  their  remains. 

When  we  read  over  the  numerous  examinations  of  the  tem¬ 
plars,  in  other  countries,  as  well  as  in  France,  we  can  not  but 
feel  convinced  that  some  of  these  charges  had  a  degree  of  found¬ 
ation,  though  perhaps  the  circumstances  on  which  they  were 
founded  were  misunderstood.  A  very  great  number  ol  knights 
agreed  to  the  general  points  of  the  formula  of  initiation,  and  we 
can  not  but  believe  that  they  did  deny  Christ,  and  that  they  spit 
and  trod  upon  the  cross.  The  words  of  the  denial  were,  Jo 
rcneij  Deu,  or  Jc  reney  J/iesu,  repeated  thrice  ;  but  most  of  those 
who  confessed  having  gone  through  this  ceremony,  declared 
that,  they  did  it  with  repugnance,  and  that  they  spit  beside  the 
cross,  and  not  on  it.  The  reception  took  place  in  a  secret  room, 
with  closed  doors  ;  the  candidate  was  compelled  to  take  off  part 

N  *  Item,  quod  adorabant  quondam  catura  sibi  in  ipsa  congregatione  npparentem 
quandoque.  <  ... 

t  Item,  quod  ipsi  per  singulas  provincias  habebnnt  ydnla,  videlicet  capita  quo¬ 
rum  aliqua  habebant  tres  facies  et  aliqua  unam,  et  aliqua  craueum  humauum  hab- 
ebant. 


THE  KNIGHTS-TEMPLARS. 


43 


or  all  of  his  garments  (very  rarely  the  latter),  and  then  he  was 
kissed  on  various  parts  of  the  body.  One  of  the  knights  exam¬ 
ined,  Guischard  de  Marzici,  said  he  remembered  the  reception 
of  Hugh  de  Marhaud,  of  the  diocese  of  Lyons,  whom  he  saw 
taken  into  a  small  room,  which  was  closed  up  so  that  no  one 
conld  see  or  hear  what,  took  place  within ;  but  that  when,  after 
some  time,  he  was  let  out,  he  was  very  pale,  and  looked  as 
though  he  were  troubled  and  amazed  ( fait  valde  pallidus  ct  qua¬ 
si  turbatus  et  stupefactus ).  In  conjunction,  however,  with  these 
strange  and  revolting  ceremonies,  there  were  others  that  showed 
a  reverence  for  the  Christian  church  and  its  ordinances,  a  pro- 
found  faith  in  Christ,  and  the  consciousness  that  the  partaker  of 
them  was  entering  into  a  holy  vow. 

M.  Michelet,  who  has  carefully  investigated  the  materials  re¬ 
lating  to  the  trial  of  the  templars,  has  suggested  at  least  an  in¬ 
genious  explanation  ol  these  anomalies.  He  imagines  that  the 
form  of  reception  was  borrowed  from  the  figurative  mysteries 
and  rites  of  the  early  church.  The  candidate  for  admission 
into  the  order,  according  to  this  notion,  was  first  presented  as  a 
sinner  and  renegade,  in  which  character,  after  the  example  of 
St.  Peter,  he  denied  Christ.  This  denial  was  a  sort  o!  panto¬ 
mime,  in  which  the  novice  expressed  his  reprobate  state  by  spit¬ 
ting  on  the  cross.  The  candidate  was  then  stripped  oi  his  pro¬ 
fane  clothing,  received  through  the  kiss  of  the  order  into  a  high¬ 
er  state  of  faith,  and  redressed  with  the  garb  of  its  holiness. 
Forms  like  these  would,  in  the  middle  ages,  be  easily  misunder¬ 
stood,  and  their  original  meaning  soon  forgotten. 

Another  charge  in  the  accusation  of  the  templars  seems  to 
have  been  to  a  great  degree  proved  by  the  depositions  of  wit¬ 
nesses  ;  the  idol  or  head  which  they  were  said  to  have  worship¬ 
ped,  but  the  real  character  or  meaning  ol  which  we  are  totally 
unable  to  explain.  Many  templars  confessed  to  having  seen 
this  idol,  but  as  they  described  it  differently,  we-  must  suppose 
that  it  was  not  in  all  cases  represented  under  the  same  form. 
Some  said  it  was  a  frightful  head,  with  long  beard  and  sparkling 
eyes  ;  others  said  it  was  a  man’s  skull ;  some  described  it  as 
having  three  faces  ;  some  said  it  was  of  wood,  and  others  of 
metal”  one  witness  described  it  as  a  painting  ( tabula  picta)  rep¬ 
resenting  the  image  of  a  man  (/»?<7go  hominis ),  and  said  that 
when  it  was  shown  to  him,  he  was  ordered  to  “  adore  Christ  his 
creator,”  According  to  some,  it  was  a  gilt  figure,  either  of  wood 
or  met  a.1®  while  others  described  it  as  painted  black  and  white. 
According  to  another  deposition,  the  idol  had  four  feet,  two  be- 


44 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


fore  and  two  behind  ;  the  one  belonging  to  the  order  at  Paris 
was  said  to  be  a  silver  head,  with  two  faces  and  a  beard.  The 
novices  of  the  order  were  told  always  to  regard  this  idol  as 
their  savior.  Deodatus  Jaffet,  a  knight  from  the  south  of  France, 
who  had  been  received  at  Pedenat,  deposed  that  the  person  who 
in  his  case  performed  the  ceremonies  of  reception,  showed  him 
a  head  or  idol,  which  appeared  to  have  three  faces,  and  said, 
“  You  must  adore  this  as  your  savior,  and  the  savior  of  the  order 
of  the  Temple,”  and  that  he  was  made  to  worship  the  idol,  say¬ 
ing,  “  Blessed  be  he  who  shall  save  my  soul.”  Cetus  Ragonis, 
a  knight  received  at  Rome  in  a  chamber  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  gave  a  somewhat  similar  account.  Many  other  wit¬ 
nesses  spoke  of  having  seen  these  heads,  which,  however,  were, 
perhaps,  not  shown  to  everybody,  for  the  greatest  number  of 
those  who  spoke  on  this  subject,  said  that  they  had  heard  speak 
of  the  head,  but  that  they  had  never  see,n  it  themselves  ;  and 
many  of  them  declared  their  disbelief  in  its  existence.  A.  friar 
minor  deposed  in  England  that  an  English  templar  had  assured 
him  that  in  that  country  the  order  had  four  principal  idols,  one 
at  London  in  the  sacristy  of  the  Temple,  another  at  Bristelham, 
a  third  at  Brueria  (Bruern  in  Lincolnshire),  and  a  fourth  beyond 
the  Humber. 

Some  of  the  knights  from  the  south  added  another  circum¬ 
stance  in  their  confessions  relating  to  this  head.  A  templar  of 
Florence,  declared  that,  in  the  secret  meetings  of  the  chapters, 
one  brother  said  to  the  others,  showing  them  the  idol,  “  Adore 
this  head.  This  head  is  your  God  and  your  Mahomet.”  An¬ 
other,  Gauserand  de  Montpesant,  said,  that  the  idol  was  made  in 
the  figure  of  Baffomet  {in  jiguram  Baffometi) ;  and  another,  Ray¬ 
mond  Rubei,  described  it  as  a  wooden  head,  on  which  was 
painted  the  figure  of  Baphomet,  and  he  adds,  “  that  he  worship¬ 
ped  it  by  kissing  its  feet,  and  exclaiming,  Yalla ,”  which  he  de¬ 
scribes  as  “a  word  of  the  Saracens”  ( verbum  Saraccnorum). 
This  has  been  seized  upon  by  some  as  a  proof  that  the  templars 
had  secretly  embraced  Mahometanism,  as  Baffomet  or  Baphomet 
is  evidently  a  corruption  of  Mahomet ;  but  it  must  not  be  for¬ 
gotten  that  the  Christians  of  the  West  constantly  used  the  word 
Mahomet  in  the  mere  signification  of  an  idol,  and  that  it  was  the 
desire  of  those  who  conducted  the  prosecution  against  the  tem¬ 
plars  to  show  their  intimate  intercourse  with  the  Saracens. 
Others,  especially  Yon  Hammer,  gave  a  Greek  derivation  of  the 
word,  and  assumed  it  as  a  proof  that  gnosticism  was  tfct  secret 
doctrine  of  the  Temple. 


THE  KNIGHTS-TEMPLARS. 


45 


The  confessions  with  regard  to  the  mysterious  cat  were  much 
rarer  and  more  vague.  Some  Italian  knights  confessed  that 
they  had  been  present  at  a  secret  chapter  of  twelve  knights  held 
at  Brindisi,  at  which  a  gray  cat  suddenly  appeared  among  them, 
and  that  they  worshipped  it.  At  Nismes,  some  templars  de¬ 
clared  that  they  had  been  present  at  a  chapter  at  Montpelier, 
at  which  the  demon  appeared  to  them  in  the  form  of  a  cat,  and 
promised  them  worldly  prosperity  ;  and  added,  that  they  saw 
devils  in  the  shape  of  women.  Gilletus  de  Encreyo,  a  templar 
of  the  diocese  of  Rheims,  who  disbelieved  in  the  story  of  the 
cat,  deposed  that  he  had  heard  say,  though  he  knew  not  by 
whom,  that  in  some  of  their  battles  beyond  sea,  a  cat  had  ap¬ 
peared  to  them.*  An  English  knight,  who  was  examined  at 
London,  deposed,  that  in  England  they  did  not  adore  the  cat  or 
the  idol  to  his  knowledge,  but  he  had  heard  it  positively  stated 
that  they  worshipped  the  cat  and  the  idol  in  parts  beyond  sea.f 
English  witnesses  deposed  to  other  acts  of  “  indolatry.”  It  was 
of  course  the  demon,  who  presented  himself  in  the  form  of  the 
cat.  A  lady,  named  Agnes  Lovecote,  examined  in  England, 
stated  that  she  had  heard  that,  at  a  chapter  held  at  Dineslee 
(Dynnesley  in  Hertfordshire),  the  devil  appeared  to  the  templars 
in  a  monstrous  form,  having  precious  stones  instead  of  eyes, 
which  shone  so  bright  that  they  illuminated  the  whole  chapter  ; 
the  brethren,  in  succession,  kissed  him  on  the  posteriors,  and 
marked  there  the  form  of  the  cross.  She  was  told  that  one 
young  man,  who  refused  to  go  through  this  ceremony,  was 
thrown  into  a  well,  and  a  great  stone  cast  upon  him.  Another 
witness,  Robert  de  Folde,  said  that  he  had  heard  twenty  years 
ago,  that  in  the  same  place,  the  devil  came  to  the  chapter  once 
a  year,  and  flew  away  with  one  of  the  knights,  whom  he  took  as 
a  sort  of  tribute.  Two  others  deposed  that  certain  templars 
confessed  to  them  that  at  a  grand  annual  assembly  in  the  county 
of  York,  the  templars  worshipped  a  calf.  All  this  is  mere  hear¬ 
say,  but  it  shows  the  popular  opinion  of  the  conduct  of  the  or¬ 
der.  A  templar  examined  in  Paris,  named  Jacques  de  Treces, 
who  said  that  he  had  been  informed  that  at  secret  chapters  held 
at  midnight,  a  head  appeared  to  the  assembled  brethren,  added, 
that  one  of  them  “  had  a  private  demon,  by  whose  council  he 
was  wise  and  rich.”| 

*  Audivit  tamen  ab  aliquibus  dici,  de  quibus  non  recordatur  quod  quidam  catua 
apparebat  ultra  mare  in  preliis  eorum,  quod  tamen  non  credit. 

t  Respondit  quod  in  Anglia  non  adorant  catum  nec  idolum,  quod  ipse.  sciat ;  sed 
audivit  bene  dici,  quod  adorant  catnm  et  idolum  in  partibus  transmarinis. 

t  Audivit  tamen  dici  postquam  fuit'in  ordine,  quod  dictus  frater  Radulphus  habe- 
bat  da3monem  privatum,  cujus  cousilio  erat  sapiens  et  dives. 


4G 


SOliUERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Ab.surd  as  these  accusations  may  appear  to  us  at  the  present 
day,  they  were  then  believed,  and  helped  as  much  as  anything 
else  to  insure  the  condemnation  of  the  order.  The  aim  of  king 
Philippe  was  secured  ;  he  seized  upon  the  whole  treasure  of  the 
temple  in  France,  and  became  rich.  Those  who  ventured  to 
speak  in  defence  of  the  order  were  brow-beaten,  and  received 
little  attention  ;  the  torture  was  employed  to  force  confessions  ; 
fifty-four  templars  who  refused  to  confess'  were  carried  to  the 
windmill  of  St.  Antoine,  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris,  and  there  burnt ; 
and  many  others,  among  whom  was  the  grand-master  himself, 
were  subsequently  brought  to  the  stake.  After  having  lasted 
two  or  three  years,  the  process  ended  in  the  condemnation  and 
suppression  of  the  order,  and  its  estates  were  given  in  some 
countries  to  the  knights  of  St.  John.  It  was  in  France  that  the 
persecution  was  most  cruel ;  in  England,  the  order  was  sup¬ 
pressed,  but  no  executions  took  place.  Even  in  Italy,  the  sever¬ 
ity  of  the  judges  was  not  everywhere  the  same  ;  in  Lombardy 
and  Tuscany,  the  templars  were  condemned,  while  they  were 
acquitted  at  Ravenna  and  Bologna.  They  were  also  pronounced 
innocent  in  Castile,  while  in  Arragon  they  were  reduced  by 
force,  only  because  they  had  attempted  to  resist  by  force  of  arms  ; 
and  both  in  Spain  and  in  Portugal  they  only  gave  up  their  own 
order  to  be  admitted  into  others.  The  pope  was  offended  at  the 
lenity  shown  toward  them  in  England,  Spain,  and  Germany. 
The  order  of  the  temple  was  finally  dissolved  and  abolished,  and 
its  memory  branded  with  disgrace.  Some  of  the  knights  are 
said  to  have  remained  together,  and  formed  secret  societies ; 
front  one  of  which  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  modern  free¬ 
masons  are  derived.  This,  however,  is  a  doubtful  question, 
which  will  perhaps  never  be  cleared  up.* 

*  The  history  of  the  suppression  of  the  templars  was  treated  in  a  large  work  by 
the  historian  Dupuy,  in  which  numerous  documents  relating  to  the  process  were 
printed.  M.  Raynouard  published,  in  1813,  a  critical  essay  on  the  subject,  in  which 
he  put  himself  forward  as  the  champion  of  the  order.  M.  Michelet  has  more  re¬ 
cently  printed  the  original  examinations  and  other  documents  of  the  process  in  the 
collection  of  historical  documents  published  by  direction  of  the  French  government ; 
and  he  has  treated  the  matter  at  considerable  length  and  with  much  research  in  the 
third  volume  of  his  “  Histoire  de  France."  A  manuscript  of  the  fourteenth  century 
in  the  Cottonian  library  in  the  British  Museum,  (MS  Gotten.  Julius  B.  XII  )  con¬ 
tains  a  considerable  portion  of  the  depositions  of  the  witnesses  examined  in 
England. 


ENGUERRAND  DC  MARIGNY. 


47 


✓ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SORCERY  IN  FRANCE - THE  CITIZENS  OF  ARRAS. 

In  France,  llie  belief  in  sorcery  appears  to  have  been  more 
prevalent  at  this  early  period,  even  than  in  England,  and  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  became  the  ground  of 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  acts  of  wholesale  oppression  that 
the  history  of  that  a^e  has  preserved  to  us.  We  have  seen 
how,  as  early  as  the  Thirteenth  century,  the  charge  of  sorcery 
had  been  used  as  one  of  the  means  of  branding  with  infamy 
the  name  of  the  Waldenses  or  Vaudois  ;  they  were  accused  of 
selling  themselves  to  the  devil,  of  passing  through  the  air  mount¬ 
ed  on  broomsticks  to  a  place  of  general  meeting,  where  they  did 
homage  to  the  demon,  and  where  they  had  preaching,  and  did 
various  acts  of  impiety  and  sinfulness.  Several  persons  accused 
of  taking  part  in  these  meetings  were  put  to  death,  and  the  meet¬ 
ing  itself  was  often  characterized  by  the  name  of  a  Vaudoisie  or 
a  Vuuderie.  The  secresy  of  the  meetings  of.persecuted  religious 
sectaries  gave  a  certain  plausible  appearance  to  such  stories. 
We  have  seen,  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
the  same  hated  and  fearful  crime  of  sorcery  deeply  mixed  up 
with  the  charges  brought  against  the  unfortunate  templars  ;  and 
it  was  not  unfrequently  used  then  and  in  subsequent  times  to  ruin 
the  character  of  high  state  offenders. 

One  of  its  victims  was  the  powerful  minister  of  Philippe  le 
Bel,  Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  the  same  who  had  conducted  the 
execution  of  the  templars,  and  who  thus  fell  under  a  stroke  of 
the  deadly  weapon  which  he  had  conjured  up  for  the  destruction 
of  others.  After  the  death  of  that  monarch  in  1315,  Enguerrand 
was  thrown  into  prison,  and  accused  ot  various  acts  of  extortion 
and  other  crimes  in  abuse  of  the  confidence  of  his  late  master, 
at  the  instigation  of  some  of  the  princes  of  the  royal  family  of 
France,  whose  enmity  he  had  provoked,  especially  of  the  counts 
of  Valois  and  St.  Pol.  Philippe’s  successor,  Louis,  showed 
some  inclination  to  save  Enguerrand,  and  his  trial  was  making 
little  progress,  when  it  was  suddenly  published  abroad  that  he 
had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  compass  the  death  of  his  two 
principal  accusers.  It  was  stated  that  Enguerrand  had  sent  for 
liis  wife,  the  lady  of  Marigny,  her  sister  the  lady  of  Chantelou, 


48 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  his  brother,  the  archbishop  of  Sens,  who  came  to  him  in  his 
prison,  and  there  held  counsel  together  on  the  best  method  of 
effecting  the  deaths  of  the  two  counts.  The  ladies,  after  leaving 
the  prison,  sent  for  a  lame  woman,  who  appears  to  have  dealt  in 
alchemy — qui  fesoil  Vor — and  a  mauvais  garcon,  named  Paviot, 
and  promised  them  a  great  sum  of  money  if  they  would  make 
“  certain  faces  whereby  they  might  kill  the  said  counts.”  The 
“  faces,”  or  images,  were  accordingly  made  of  wax,  and  baptized 
in  the  devil’s  name,  and  so  ordered  “  by  art  magic,”  that  as  they 
dried  up  the  counts  would  have  gradually  pined  away  and  died. 
But  accidentally,  as  we  are  told,  the  whole  matter  came  to  the 
ears  of  the  count  of  Valois,  who  gave  information  to  the  king, 
and  the  latter  then  consented  to  Enguermnd’s  death.  Enguer- 
rand  and  Paviot  were  hanged  on  one  gibbet ;  the  lame  woman 
was  burnt,  and  the  two  ladies  were  condemned  to  prison.  In 
1334,  the  lady  of  Robert  count  of  Artois,  and  her  son,  were 
thrown  into  prison  on  a  suspicion  of  sorcery  ;  her  husband  had 
been  banished  for  crimes  of  a  different  nature. 

The  chronicle  of  St.  Denis,  in  which  is  preserved  the  account 
of  the  trial  of  Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  furnishes  a  singular  in¬ 
stance  of  the  superstitious  feelings  of  the  age.  In  1323,  a  Cis 
tercian  abbot  was  robbed  of  a  very  considerable  sum  of  money. 
He  went  to  a  man  of  Chateau-Landon,  who  had  been  provost  of 
that  town,  and  was  known  by  the  name  of  Jehan  le  Prevost,  to 
consult  on  the  best  way  of  tracing  the  robbers,  and  by  his  advice 
made  an  agreement  with  a  sorcerer,  who  undertook  to  discover 
them  and  oblige  them  to  make  restitution.  A  box  was  first  made, 
and  in  it  was  placed  a  black  cat,  with  three  days’  provision  of 
bread  sopped  in  cream,  oil  that  had  been  sanctified,  and  holy 
water,  and  the  box  was  then  buried  in  the  ground  at  a  cross 
road,  two  holes  having  been  left  in  the  box,  with  two  long  pipes, 
which  admitted  sufficient  air  to  keep  the  cat  alive.  After  three 
days  the  cat  was  to  have  been  taken  out  and  skinned,  and  the 
skin  cut  into  thongs,  and  these  thongs  being  made  into  a  girdle, 
the  man  who  wore  it,  with  certain  insignificant  ceremonies, 
might  call  upon  the  evil  one,  who  would  immediately  come  and 
answer  any  question  he  put  to  him. 

It  happened,  however,  that  the  day  after  the  cat  was  buried,  a 
party  of  shepherds  passed  over  the  spot  with  their  sheep  and 
dogs,  and  the  latter,  smelling  the  cat,  began  to  bark  furiously 
and  tear  up  the  ground  with  their  feet.  The  shepherds,  aston¬ 
ished  at  the  perseverance  with  which  the  dogs  continued  to 
scratch  the  ground,  brought  the  then  provost  of  Chateau-Landon 


THE  MALADY  OF  CHARLES  VI. 


49 


to  the  place,  who  had  the  ground  excavated,  and  found  the  box 
and  cat.  It  was  at  once  judged  to  be  an  act  of  sorcery,  and  was 
the  subject  of  much  scandal,  but  no  traces  could  be  discovered 
of  the  persons  who  had  done  it,  until  at  last  the  provost  found 
the  carpenter  who  had  made  the  box  for  Jehan  le  Prevost,  and 
thus  the  whole  matter  came  to  light,  and  two  persons  were  burnt 
for  the  crime. 

Later  on  in  the  century,  in  the  reign  of  the  weak  Charles  VI., 
the  superstitions  of  the  vulgar  were  again  mixed  up  with  the 
highest  affairs  of  the  state.  It  was  in  1393  that  this  prince  ex¬ 
perienced  the  first  attack  of  that  painful  malady  which  affected 
his  reason,  and  rendered  him  unlit  for  several  years  to  fulfil  the 
duties  of  his  high  station.  People  in  general  ascribed  his  mad¬ 
ness  to  the  effects  of  sorcery,  and  they  pointed  to  his  beloved 
Italian  sister-in-law,  the  young  and  beautiful  duchess  of  Orleans, 
as  the  author  of  it.  This  lady  was  a  visconti,  the  daughter  of 
the  rich  and  powerful  duke  of  Milan  :  and  it  appears  that  at  this 
time  Lombardy,  her  native  land,  was  celebrated  above  all  other 
parts  for  sorcerers  and  poisoners.*  The  wise  ministers  of  the 
court  judged  it  necessary  to  set  up  one  sorcerer  against  another, 
and  a  man  of  this  stamp,  named  Arnaud  Guillaume,  was  brought 
lrom  Guienne  to  cure  the  king  by  his  magic.  Arnaud  was  in 
every  respect  an  ignorant  pretender,  but  he  possessed  a  book  to 
which  he  gave  the  strange  title  of  Smagorad,  the  original  of 
which  he  said  was  given  by  God  to  Adam,  to  console  him  for 
the  loss  of  his  son  Abel ;  and  he  pretended  that  any  one  who 
possessed  this  book  was  enabled  thereby  to  hold  the  stars  in  sub¬ 
jection,  and  to  command  the  four  elements  and  all  the  objects 
they  contained.  This  man  gave  credit  to  the  general  opinion  by 
asserting  positively  that  the  king  lay  under  the  power  of  sorce¬ 
ry  ;  but  he  said  that  the  authors  of  the  charm  were  working  so 
strenuously  against  him,  that  it  would  take  much  time  before  he 
could  overcome  them.  The  clergy,  in  the  meantime,  interfered 
to  put  a  stop  to  proceedings  so  contrary  to  the  sentiments  of  the 
church,  and  the  king  having  recovered,  Arnaud  Guillaume  seems 
to  have  fallen  back  into  his  original  obscurity.  Another  attack 
followed  rapidly,  but  the  magician  was  not  recalled,  although 
people  still  believed  that  their  king  was  bewitched,  and  they 
now  openly  accused  the  duke  of  Milan  himself  as  the  sorcerer. 

In  1397,  King  Charles  was  again  the  victim  of  a  violent  at- 

* Allegantes  qaod  in  Lombardia,  unde  ducebat  originem,  intoxicationes  et  sorti- 
legia  vigebant  plus  quam  eiliis  partibus.  The  Chrornque  du  religieax  de  St.  Denis, 
which  is  my  authority  for  these  facts. 


5 


50 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tack.  On  this  occasion  the  province  of  Guienne,  which  appears 
to  have  been  celebrated  for  persons  of  this  description,  contrib¬ 
uted  toward  his  cure  by  sending  two  persons  to  counteract  the 
influence  under  which  he  was  believed  to  have  fallen.  These 
men,  who  were  by  profession  Augustine  friars,  were  received  at 
court  with  every  respect  and  honor,  and  were  lodged  in  the  cha¬ 
teau  of  St.  Antoine.  They,  like  their  predecessor,  delayed  their 
operations,  amusing  people  with  formalities  and  promises,  while 
they  lived  in  luxury  and  debauchery,  and  used  their  influence 
over  people’s  minds  to  corrupt  their  wives  and  daughters.  At 
last  their  character  became  so  apparent,  that,  after  having  been 
subjected  to  a  fair  trial,  they  were  conducted  to  the  Greve  at 
Paris,  where  they  were  at  first  publicly  degraded  from  their  or¬ 
der,  and  then  beheaded.  But  even  their  fate  was  no  warning  to 
others  ;  for  when,  in  1403,  the  king  was  laboring  under  another 
attack  of  his  malady,  two  sorcerers,  named  Poinson  and  Bri¬ 
quet,  who  resided  at  Dijon  m  Burgundy,  offered  to  effect  his 
cure.  For  this  purpose  they  established  themselves  in  a  thick 
wood  not  far  from  the  gates  of  Dijon,  where  they  made  a  magic 
circle  of  iron  of  immense  weight,  which  was  supported  by  iron 
columns  of  the  height  of  a  middle-sized  man,  and  to  which  twelve 
chains  of  iron  were  attached.  So  great  was  the  popular  anxiety 
for  the  king’s  recovery,  that  the  two  sorcerers  succeeded  in  per¬ 
suading  twelve  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  town  to  enter  the 
circle,  and  allow  themselves  to  be  fastened  by  the  chains.  The 
sorcerers  then  proceeded  with  their  incantations,  but  they  were 
altogether  without  result.  The  bailif  of  Dijon,  who  was  one  of 
the  twelve,  and  had  averred  his  incredulity  from  the  first,  caused 
the  sorcerers  to  be  arrested,  and  they  were  burnt  for  their  crime. 

The  duke  of  Orleans  appears  to  have  fallen  under  the  same 
suspicion  of  sorcery  as  his  Italian  consort.  After  his  murder  by 
order  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy — the  commencement  of  those 
troubles  which  led  to  the  desolation  of  France — the  latter  drew 
up  various  heads  of  accusation  against  his  victim  as  justifications 
of  the  crime,  and  one  of  these  was,  that  the  duke  of  Orleans  had 
attempted  to  compass  his  death  by  means  of  sorcery.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  this  statement,  he  had  received  a  magician — another 
apostate  friar — into  his  castle  of  Mountjoie,  where  he  was  em¬ 
ployed  in  these  sinister  designs.  He  performed  his  magical 
ceremonies  before  sunrise  on  a  neighboring  mountain,  where 
two  demons,  named  Herman  and  Astramon,  appeared  to  him ; 
and  these  became  his  active  instruments  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  design. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  ARRAS. 


51 


Many  other  such  cases  no  doubt  occurred  in  the  annals  of  this 
period.  Every  reader  of  history  knows  that  the  most  serious 
crime  laid  to  the  charge  of  Jeanne  of  Arc  was  that  of  sorcery, 
for  which  chiefly  she  was  condemned  to  the  stake.  It  was  pre¬ 
tended  that  she  had  been  in  the  habit  of  attending  at  the  witches’ 
sabbath  which  was  held  on  the  Thursday  night  of  every  week, 
at  a  fountain  by  the  fairies’  oak  of  Bourlemont,  near  Domremy, 
her  native  place ;  that  thence  she  was  sent  forth  to  cause 
Avar  and  slaughter;  that  the  evil  spirits  had  discovered  to  her  a 
magic  sword  concealed  in  the  church  of  St.  Catherine  at  Fier- 
bois,  to  which,  and  to  charmed  rings  and  banners  which  she  bore 
about  with  her,  she  owed  her  victories  ;  and  that  by  means  of 
sorcery  she  had  gained  the  confidence  and  favor  of  the  king 
and  the  duke  of  Bourbon.  She  was  gravely  condemned  on 
these  charges  by  the  faculty  of  theology  of  the  university  of 
Paris. 

The  belief  in  the  nightly  meetings,  or  sabbath  of  the  witches, 
had  now  become  almost  universal.  We  learn  that  it  was  very 
prevalent  in  Italy  about  the  year  1400,  and  that  many  persons 
were  accused  of  having  been  present  at  them,  and  of  having 
denied  their  belief  in  the  church,  and  done  homage  to  the  evil 
one,  with  various  detestable  acts  and  ceremonies.  It  was  half 
a  century  later  that  this  belief  was  made  the  ground-work  of  a 
series  of  prosecutions  in  Artois  and  Flanders,  the  only  object  of 
which  appears  to  have  been  revenge  and  extortion.  We  know 
nothing,  however,  of  the  events  which  preceded  and  led  to  them. 
A  particular  account  of  the  proceedings  has  been  left  us  by  a 
contemporary  writer,  Jacques  du  Clerc,  who  appears  to  have 
been  present,  and  shorter  accounts  are  preserved  in  one  or 
two  of  the  old  historians.  The  term  Vauldois  is  here  used 
simply  in  the  sense  of  a  sorcerer. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  a  Jacobin  monk,  named 
Pierre  le  Broussart,  was  inquisitor  of  the  faith  in  the  city  of  Ar¬ 
ras.  About  the  feast  of  All-Saints,  1459,  a  young  woman,  some¬ 
what  more  than  thirty  years  of  age,  named  Demiselle,  who 
lived  by  prostitution  [a  femme  de  follie  vie),  in  the  city  of  Douai, 
was  suddenly  arrested  at  that  place  by  Pierre  le  Broussart’s  or¬ 
ders,  and  carried  prisoner  to  Arras,  where  she  was  brought  be¬ 
fore  the  municipal  magistrates,  and  by  them,  at  the  inquisitor’s 
demand,  given  over  to  the  ecclesiastical  arm,  and  thrown  into 
the  bishop’s  prison.  When  she  asked  her  persecutors  why  she 
was  thus  treated,  they  only  condescended  to  inform  her  that  she 
would  hear  in  good  time,  and  one  of  them  asked,  by  Avay  of  rail- 


52 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


lery,  if  she  did  not  know  a  hermit  named  Robinet  de  Yaulx.  She 
replied  in  consternation,  “  Et  que  checy  ?  cuide  ton  que  je  sois 
Vauldois?” — “And  what  of  that?  do  they  think  me  a  witch?” 

In  fact,  Robinet  de  Vaulx,  who  was  a  native  of  Artois,  but 
had  lived  for  some  time  as  a  hermit  in  the  province  of  Burgundy, 
had  recently  been  burnt  for  the  crime  of  sorcery,  or  Vaulderie, 
at  Langres,  and  she  could  only  suppose,  by  the  allusion  to  his 
name,  that  she  was  now  accused  of  the  same  crime.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  it  was  soon  afterward  made  known  that  Pierre  le  Brous- 
sart  had  been  at  tl\e  chapter-general  of  the  friars’  preachers  (or 
Jacobins),  held  that  year  at  Langres,  at  which  Robinet  de  Yaulx 
had  been  condemned  ;  that  on  his  trial,  Robinet  had  confessed 
that  there  were  a  great  number  of  sorcerers  in  Artois,  men  and 
women;  and,  that,  among  others,  he  had  named  this  woman, 
Demiselle,  dwelling  at  Douai,  and  a  man  named  Jehan  Levite, 
who  was  known  by  the  nickname  of  abbe  de  pen  de  sens  (the 
abbot  of  little  sense).  On  his  return  from  the  chapter,  Broussart 
had,  as  he  pretended,  acted  on  this  information,  and  caused  De¬ 
miselle  to  be  arrested.  She  was  examined  and  put  to  the  tor¬ 
ture  several  times  before  the  vicars  of  the  bishop  of  Arras,  and, 
among  the  rest,  master  Jacques  Dubois,  a  doctor  in  theology, 
canon  and  dean  of  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Arras,  made 
himself  most  busy  and  active,  and  labored  most  in  interrogating 
her.  After  having  been  very  cruelly  tortured,  the  miserable 
woman  was  at  length  induced  to  confess  that  she  had  been  pres¬ 
ent  at  the  Vaulderie,  or  meeting  of  sorcerers,  where  she  had  seen 
and  recognised  many  persons,  and,  among  others,  the  said  Jehan 
Levite,  known  as  the  abbe  depeude  sens,  who  was  a  painter,  and 
then  resided  at  Arras,  but  where  he  was  at  the  time  of  her  ex¬ 
amination  she  did  not  know.  The  inquisitor  of  the  faith,  after 
much  trouble,  found  him  living  at  Abbeville  in  Ponthieu,  and 
had  him  seized  and  brought  to  Arras,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
25th  of  February,  and  was  immediately  committed  to  the  bishop’s 
prison.  The  abbe  de  peu  de  sens,  at  the  moment  of  being  taken, 
appears  to  have  lost  the  little  sense  he  possessed,  for  he  at¬ 
tempted  to  cut  off  his  own  tongue  with  a  penknife,  and  maimed 
himself  so  much  that  he  was  for  some  length  of  time  unable  to 
speak.  The  inquisitors  said  that  he  did  this  to  avoid  making 
any  confession ;  and  they  subjected  him  to  a  close  examination 
and  cruel  tortures,  until  they  forced  him  to  make  an  avowal  in 
writing,  that  he  had  been  at  the  Vaulderie,  and  that  he  had  seen 
there  many  people  of  all  estates,  men  and  women,  nobles  and 
burghers,  and  even  ecclesiastics,  whose  names  and  surnames  he 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  ARRAS. 


53 


gave.  In  consequence  of  this  information,  Huguet  Carney  a 
barber,  known  commonly  by  the  name  of  Paternoster  ;  Jehan  le 
h  erre,  a  sergeant  of  the  echevins  of  the  city  of  Arras  ;  Jeanne 
cl  Auvergne,  the  mistress  of  the  new  baths  of  the  city;  and  three 
prostitutes  ot  Arras,  known  by  the  familiar  appellations  of  Be- 
lotte,  Vergengen,  and  Blancquinette  ;  were  all  thrown  into  the 
bishops  prison,  and  subjected  to  the  same  interrogations  and 
tortures  as  the  others. 


W  hen  the  bishop’s  vicars  saw  the  matter  going  on  in  this  way 
and  the  number  of  persons  accused  increasing  daily,  they  began 
to  dread  the  consequences,  and  were  inclined  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
proceedings.  Indeed,  it  was  understood  to  be  their  intention  to 
set  all  the  prisoners  at  liberty  at  Easter.  But  Jacques  Dubois, 
the  dean  ot  Arras,  who  had  already  shown  himself  such  an  ac¬ 
tive  inquisitor,  opposed  violently  this  act  of  leniency,  and  offered 
himself  as  their  accuser,  being  supported  in  this  by  a  bigoted 
nai  minor,  John,  bishop  of  Bayrut  and  suffragan  of  the  church 
o  .  lias.  Still  tearful  that  he  might  not  be  successful,  the  dean 
went  to  Peronne,  and  obtained  a  private  interview  with  the 
count  of  Estampes,  who  came  in  haste  to  Arras,  called  before 
him  the  bishop’s  vicars,  enjoined  them  to  proceed  energetically 
against  the  prisoners,  as  it  was  their  duty  to  do,  or  he  would 
take  the  affair  into  his  own  hands,  and  then  returned  to  Peronne. 
i  he  vicars  did  not  venture  to  disobey  the  count,  because,  if  by 
their  negligence  they  let  the  cause  go  out  of  their  court,  it  im¬ 
plied  a  loss  or  diminution  of  their  privileges. 

The  prisoners  were  again  subjected  to  the  torture,  and,  as  it  . 
appears,  the  number  of  persons  accused  by  them  was  consider¬ 
ably  increased.  The  bishop’s  vicars  were  more  and  more  em¬ 
barrassed,  and  tried  to  relieve  themselves  by  sending  a  copy  of 
the  examinations  to  Cambray,  for  the  advice  of  Gilles  Carlier  a 
of  ^heol°gy»  * seventy-two  years  of  age,  dean  of  the  church 
ot  Notre  Dame  ot  Cambray,  and  “  one  of  the  most  notable  clerks 
in  Christendom,  as  was  said and  another  “  tres  notable  clerc 
Master  Gregoire  Nicollay,  canon  and  official  of  the  bishop  of 
Cambray.  These  two  notables,  having  carefully  and  attentively 
lead  the  confessions,  gave  it  in  writing  as  their  opinion  that  they 
should  only  punish  the  prisoners  leniently,  and  not  proceed  to 
extremities,  if  they  had  committed  no  murders,  and  had  not 
abused  the  body  ot  Christ  (that  is  the  consecrated  host).  Master 
Jacques  Dubois  and  the  titular  bishop  of  Bayrut  were  much  irri¬ 
tated  at  this  decision.  They  proclaimed  it  as  their  opinion  that 
the  prisoners  ought  all  to  be  burnt,  and  that  even  those  who  did 

5* 


54 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


not  confess  should  be  condemned,  if  four  of  those  who  confessed 
agreed  in  accusing  the  same  person;  and  these  two  dignitaries 
used  their  utmost  diligence  to  bring  this  opinion  into  effect.  Du¬ 
bois  declared  publicly,  that  he  knew  things  at  which,  if  made 
known,  “  people  would  be  much  abashed,”  and  that  he  knew 
that  all  who  were  accused  were  justly  accused.  He  said  that 
bishops  and  even  cardinals  had  been  at  the  Vaulderie,  or  sab¬ 
bath,  and  that  the  number  of  persons  compromised  in  it  was  so 
great,  that,  if  they  had  only  some  king  or  great  prince  to  head 
them,  they  would  rebel  against  the  whole  world.  The  bishop 
of  Bayrut  had  held  the  office  of  penitentier  to  the  pope,  and  was 
said  to  connaitre  moult  des  choses ;  and  the  historian  tells  us  that 
he  had  “  such  an  imagination,”  that  as  soon  as  he  saw  people, 
he  at  once  judged  and  said  whether  they  were  Vauldois  or  not 
(a  veritable  Matthew  Hopkins  of  the  fifteenth  century).  This 
man  and  Dubois  sustained,  that  when  a  man  was  once  accused 
of  this  crime,  from  that  moment  nobody,  even  father  or  mother, 
or  wife,  or  brother,  or  child,  ought  to  take  his  part,  or  hold  any 
communication  with  him.  At  this  time,  another  citizen  of  Arras, 
a  wood-merchant,  was  accused  and  thrown  into  prison  ;  and  the 
count  of  Estampes  was  prevailed  upon  to  write  a  letter  to  the 
vicars,  rebuking  them  for  their  tardiness. 

At  length,  a  scaffold  was  raised  in  the  public  place  of  the  city 
of  Arras,  and,  amid  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  all  the 
prisoners  were  brought  forth,  each  with  a  mitre  on  his  head,  on 
which  the  devil  was  painted  in  the  form  in  which  he  had  ap¬ 
peared  at  the  Vaulderie.  They  were  first  exhorted  by  the  in¬ 
quisitors,  and  their  confession  was  then  read  to  them,  in  which 
they  avowed  that  when  they  wished  to  go  to  the  Vaulderie ,  they 
took  a  certain  ointment  which  the  devil  had  given  them,  rubbed 
a  little  wooden  rod  and  the  palms  of  their  hands  with  it,  and 
then  placed  the  rod  between  their  legs,  upon  which  they  were 
suddenly  carried  through  the  air  to  the  place  of  assembly.  There 
they  found  tables  spread,  loaded  with  all  sorts  of  meats  and  with 
*wine,  and  a  devil  in  the  form  of  a  goat,  with  the  tail  of  an  ape, 
and  a  human  countenance.  They  first  did  oblation  and  homage 
to  him,  offering  him  their  soul,  or  at  least  some  part  of  their 
body,  and  then,  as  a  mark  of  adoration,  kissed  him  behind,  hold¬ 
ing  burning  torches  in  their  hands.  The  abbe  de  peu  de  sens 
was  stated  to  have  held  the  office  of  master  of  the  ceremonies  at 
these  meetings,  it  being  his  duty  to  make  the  new-comers  do 
their  homage.  After  this,  they  all  trod  on  the  cross,  spit  upon 
it,  in  despite  of  Jesus  and  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  performed 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  ARRAS. 


55 


ether  profane  actions.  They  then  fell  to  eating  and  drinking, 
and  the  meeting  ended  in  a  scene  of  indescribable  debauchery, 
in  which  the  demon  took  alternately  the  forms  of  each  sex.  Af¬ 
ter  a  number  of  wicked  actions,  the  devil  preached  to  the  assem¬ 
bly,  and  forbade  them  to  go  to  church,  or  to  hear  mass,  or  to  touch 
holy  water,  or  perform  any  other  Christian  duty.  The  assembly 
was  stated  to  have  been  most  commonly  held  at  a  fountain  in  the 
wood  of  Mofflaines,  about  a  league  from  Arras,  but  sometimes  in 
other  places,  and,  on  some  occasions,  they  had  gone  thither  on  foot. 

When  this  confession  had  been  read,  the  prisoners  were  pub¬ 
licly  asked  if  they  acknowledged  its  truth,  and  they  all  answered 
with  a  clear  voice,  “  Yes,”  after  which  they  were  taken  from 
the  scaflold,  and  carried  to  the  town-hall.  Their  sentence  was 
then  published  in  French  and  Latin,  and  they  w'ere  delivered 
over  to  the  secular  power,  to  do  execution  upon  them  as  rotten 
and  stinking  members  of  the  church  of  Christ.  Their  inheritances 
were  forfeited  to  the  count,  and  their  goods  (the  better  share  of  the 
booty  in  this  instance)  to  the  bishop.  When  it  was  announced  to 
the  prisoners  that  they  were  condemned  to  death,  the  women 
burst  into  fearful  screams  and  lamentations,  and  they  all  declared 
themselves  innocent,  and  called  for  vengeance  on  Jacques  Du¬ 
bois,  who,  they  said,  had  induced  them  to  make  the  confession 
which  he  had  put  into  their  months,  by  the  promise  that  on  that 
condition  he  would  save  their  lives.  They  persisted  in  declar¬ 
ing  their  innocence  to  the  last,  which  “  moved  people  to  great 
thought  and  murmurs,”  some  asserting  that  they  were  wrongful¬ 
ly  condemned,  while  others  said  it  was  the  devil  who  had  made 
them  obstinate,  that  they  might  not  relinquish  his  service.  The 
abbe  de  peu  de  sens  was  the  first  that  was  burnt ;  and  his  fate 
excited  much  commiseration,  for  he  was  between  sixty  and  sev¬ 
enty  years  of  age,  a  painter  and  a  poet,  who  had  been  welcome 
everywhere,  because  he  composed  and  sung  songs  well ;  and  it 
was  observed,  that  he  had  made  beautiful  ditties  and  ballads  in 
honor  of  the  blessed  Virgin  ;  but  there  were  people  malicious 
enough  to  say,  that  when  he  sung  these,  he  took  off  his  hat  at 
the  end,  and  said  in  a  low  voice,  “  Ne  deplaise  a  mon  maistreV ’ 
The  woman  Demiselle,  who  had  been  the  first  person  accused, 
was  carried  to  Dotiai  to  be  burnt  there. 

Hitherto,  the  accused  had  been  all  poor  people,  and  chiefly 
persons  of  very  equivocal  character.  Their  depositions,  as  far 
as  they  compromised  others,  were  kept  in  the  greatest  secresy  ; 
but  it  was  after  their  execution  that  the  real  designs  of  the  prose¬ 
cutors  began  to  show  themselves.  Late  in  the  evening  of  the  16th 


56 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


of  July,  1460,  the  governor  of  Peronne,  Bauldvvin,  lord  of  Noy- 
alles,  came  to  Arras,  and  arrested,  on  an  accusation  of  Vaulde- 
rie,  Master  Anthoine  Sacquespee,  one  of  the  echevins  of  the  city, 
and  a  very  rich  burgher,  and  delivered  him  into  the  custody  of 
the  lieutenant  of  Arras,  who  committed  him  to  the  bishop’s  prison. 
The  following  morning,  another  of  the  echevins,  Jehan  Josset, 
and  the  city  sergeant,  Henriet  de  Royville,  both  men  of  substance, 
were  imprisoned  in  the  course  of  the  day ;  the  fear  and  conster¬ 
nation  of  the  citizens  became  so  great,  that  several  of  the  most 
wealthy  attempted  to  save  themselves  by  flight ;  but  they  were 
immediately  pursued  by  the  officers  of  the  count  of  Estampesr 
and  brought  back  to  be  imprisoned  along  with  their  companions. 
Some  of  them  were  followed  as  far  as  Paris  ;  several  other  per¬ 
sons,  all  chosen  apparently  for  their  wealth,  were  arrested  in  the 
course  of  the  following  days,  among  whom  was  the  lord  of 
Beauffort ;  and  the  affair  made  so  much  noise,  that  even  in  dis¬ 
tant  parts  of  France,  a  traveller  wffio  was  known  to  have  come 
from  Arras,  could  with  difficulty  find  anybody  who  would  give 
llim  lodgings. 

A  few  of  the  persons  thus  seized  were  set  at  liberty,  because 
they  would  not  confess,  and  only  one,  or  two,  or  three  witnesses 
had  deposed  to  having  seen  them  at  the  sabbath  ;  but  the  rest  ac¬ 
cused  only  on  the  evidence  forced  from  prostitutes  and  others, 
who  had  been  put  to  death,  and  were  therefore  not  forthcoming 
to  be  cross-examined  or  confronted  with  the  persons  they  ac¬ 
cused,  were  treated  with  the  utmost  rigor.  The  city  of  Arras 
was  in  the  greatest  consternation  ;  trade  was  at  a  stand ;  and 
people  were  seizing  every  possible  excuse  to  leave  it.  At  length 
the  affair  reached  the  ears  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  and  it  was 
discussed  before  him  and  the  learned  people  of  his  court  at  Brus¬ 
sels,  and  at  their  suggestion,  the  opinion  of  the  university  of 
Louvaine  was  taken.  There  was  found  much  division  of  opin¬ 
ion,  however,  among  the  learned  clerks ;  for  some  declared  loud¬ 
ly  their  belief  that  this  crime  of  Vaulclcrie  was  not  real,  but  a 
mere  illusion ;  while  others  as  resolutely  sustained  the  contrary. 
The  duke,  however,  interposed  his  authority  so  far,  that  from 
this  time  no  other  persons  were  arrested,  and  he  sent  to  Arras 
one  of  his  confidential  courtiers  to  watch  the ‘trials,  which  were 
pushed  forward  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  Dubois  and  his  col¬ 
leagues. 

On  the  12th  of  October,  1460,  the  five  prisoners  of  most  im¬ 
portance  for  their  wealth  or  position,  were  brought  forth,  and,  to 
the  surprise  of  everybody,  the  lord  of  Beauffort  made  a  voluntary 


THE  LORD  OF  BEAUFFORT. 


57 


confession,  that  he  had  been  acquainted  with  the  three  prostitutes 
who  had  already  perished  at  the  stake,  and  that  he  had  allowed 
himself  to  be  overcome  by  their  wicked  persuasions,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  which  he  had,  in  his  own  house,  anointed  a  stick  and 
his  own  body  with  the  ointment  which  they  had  given  him,  and 
that  he  was  immediately  carried  away  to  the  wood  of  Moufflaine, 
where  he  found  a  great  multitude  of  persons  of  both  sexes  con¬ 
gregated  together.  He  said  that  the  devil  presided  over  the  as¬ 
sembly  in  the  form  of  an  ape,  and  that  he  had  done  homage  to 
him,  and  kissed  one  of  his  paws.  He  expressed  the  greatest 
contrition  for  his  crime,  and  begged  for  mercy  of  his  judges. 
Many  of  the  other  prisoners  sustained  the  utmost  extremity  of 
torture,  and  still  asserted  their  innocence  ;  but  the  confession  of 
the  lord  of  Beauffort  had  its  effect  in  giving  credit  to  the  accusa¬ 
tions  of  the  inquisitors,  who  declared  publicly  that  antichrist  was 
born,  and  that  the  Vaulderie  was  preparing  the  way  for  him. 
All  the  prisoners  were  found  guilty,  and  the  sentence  was  con¬ 
firmed  by  the  duke,  but  none  of  them  were  put  to  death.  The 
lord  of  Beauffort  was  condemned  to  ten  years’  imprisonment,  and 
to  a  heavy  fine,  which  went  chiefly  to  the  church  and  to  the  in¬ 
quisitors.  The  others  were  similarly  punished  with  various  de¬ 
grees  of  fine  and  imprisonment. 

A  new  incident  in  this  tragedy  occurred  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1461,  which  seemed  like  a  judgment  of  Providence  on 
one  of  the  most  busy  persecutors  of  the  good  citizens  of  Arras. 
Master  Jacques  Dubois,  dean  of  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  as 
he  was  on  his  way  to  the  town  of  Corbey,  was  suddenly  struck 
with  a  paralytic  attack,  which  deprived  him  of  his  senses.  He 
was  carried  to  Paris,  but  medical  aid  was  of  no  avail.  He  re¬ 
covered  the  use  of  his  senses,  but  he  remained  in  a  state  of  ex¬ 
treme  bodily  weakness,  his  members  trembled  and  shook  when 
he  attempted  to  use  them  and  he  lingered  on  miserably  in  his 
chamber  till  the  month  of  February,  when  he  died.  All  who  be¬ 
lieved  in  the  truth  of  the  Vaulderie ,  said  that  he  had  been  be- 
Avitched  by  some  of  the  sorcerers  in  revenge  for  the  activity  he 
had  shown  in  bringing  them  to  justice. 

But  it  turned  out  that  the  inquisitors,  in  their  eagerness  for  the 
plunder,  had  struck  too  high.  The  lord  of  Beauffort,  indignant 
at  the  treatment  he  had  experienced,  prosecuted  his  judges,  and 
carried  his  cause  before  the  parliament  of  Paris,  tvhere  it  was 
pleaded  by  his  counsel  in  June,  1461.  The  latter  laid  open, 
with  a  very  unsparing  hand,  the  illegal  and  tyrannical  conduct 
of  the  inquisitors  ;  showed  that  the  confessions  of  the  prisoners 


58 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


liad  been  forced  from  them  by  the  torture,  and  that  they  had  been 
allowed  to  make  no  defence  ;  and  stated,  that,  at  the  trial,  the 
lord  of  Beauffort  had  himself  been  put  to  the  torture,  and  persist¬ 
ing  in  asserting  his  innocence,  had  been  carried  back  to  prison, 
where  he  was  visited  by  Master  Jacques  Dubois,  the  dean  of 
Ndtre  Dame  above  mentioned,  who  had  begged  him  on  his  knees 
to  make  a  confession  and  acknowledge  that  he  had  been  present 
at  the  Vaulderie,  pretending  that  he  made  this  request  for  the 
sake  of  his  children  and  family,  as  it  was  the  only  way  in  which 
he  could  save  him  from  the  stake,  in  which  case  his  property  and 
estates  would  be  confiscated,  and  his  children  reduced  to  pover¬ 
ty  ;  that  when  the  lord  of  Beauffort  represented  to  Dubois  in  re¬ 
ply,  that  he  was  already  bound  by  the  oath  he  had  taken  to  his 
own  innocence,  and  which  he  could  not  contradict,  the  dean  told 
him  not  to  be  uneasy  on  that  point,  as  he  would  undertake  to  ob¬ 
tain  an  absolution  for  him.  It  was  now  remembered  that  when 
the  first  victims  of  the  inquisitors  were  carried  to  execution, 
they  had  asserted  that  all  they  had  said  in  their  confessions  was 
untrue,  and  that  Jacques  Dubois  had  promised  them  he  would  save 
their  lives  if  they  would  say  it.  The  parliament  at  once  acquit¬ 
ted  the  lord  of  Beauffort  and  set  him  at  liberty.  The  other  pris¬ 
oners  were  then  sent  for  by  the  parliament,  and  their  cases  hav¬ 
ing  been  severally  examined  into,  they  were  also  released  from 
the  penalties  to  which  they  had  been  condemned,  and  sent 
home  to  their  families.  Thus  ended  the  persecution  of  the  sor¬ 
cerers  of  Arras,  an  extraordinary  example  of  the  lengths  to 
which  people  may  be  led  by  ignorance  and  superstition. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  LORD  OF  MIREBEAU  AND  PIERRE  d’eSTAING  THE  ALCHEMIST. 

At  the  same  period  with  the  persecution  of  the  citizens  of 
Arras  for  Vaulderie  or  sorcery,  another  town  in  France  was  the 
scene  of  events  equally  characteristic  of  an  age  when  great 
troubles  frequently  arose  out  of  what  would  now  be  considered 
the  most  contemptible  superstitions  of  the  vulgar.  The  science 
of  alchemy  was  closely  allied  to  that  of  magic ;  both  were 
grounded  in  the  desire  to  become  master  of  the  secret  and  mys¬ 
terious  workings  of  nature.  The  former  especially  addressed 


THE  LORD  OF  MIREBEAU. 


59 


itself  to  the  covetous  feelings  of  mankind,  and  found  dupes  in 
every  class  of  society,  although  old  Chaucer’s  judgment  was  con¬ 
stantly  verified  in  the  result — 

“  This  cursed  craft  who  so  wol  exercise, 

He  shal  no  good  have,  that  him  may  suffice: 

For  all  the  good  he  speudeth  thereaboute 
He  lesen  shal,  thereof  have  I  no  doubte.” 

The  history  of  alchemy  in  the  middle  ages  would  make  a  book 
of  itself;  I  will  not  enter  upon  it,  but  proceed  to  my  narrative, 
which  furnishes  a  pertinent  illustration  of  the  dictum  of  the  old 
English  poet. 

One  day,  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  of  November,  1455,  a 
man  named  Pierre  d’Estaing,  a  practitioner  in  medicine,  who 
stated  that  he  was  attached  to  the  household  of  the  duke  of  Bour¬ 
bon,  arrived  suddenly  and  hurriedly  at  the  convent  of  the  Jaco¬ 
bins  in  the  town  of  Dijon,  and  claimed  protection  under  the  right 
of  asylum  which  the  house  of  this  order  enjoyed  by  especial  priv¬ 
ilege.  He  refused,  however,  to  inform  them  of  the  circum¬ 
stances  which  had  placed  his  life  in  danger.  He  remained  safe 
under  shelter  of  the  immunities  of  the  place  a  few  days,  until  on 
hriday,  the  7th  of  November  between  eight  and  nine  o’clock  in 
the  morning,  Jean  de  Beauffremont,  lord  of  Mirebeau  and  Bour- 
bonne,  a  powerful  baron  of  the  neighborhood,  came  to  the  post¬ 
ern-gate  of  the  monastery,  on  pretence  of  hearing  mass,  accom¬ 
panied  by  two  of  his  bastard  children  (one  of  whom  was  a  Jaco¬ 
bin  monk)  and  a  party  of  armed  retainers.  Their  horses  had 
been  placed  secretly  in  the  stable  of  an  adjoining  inn.  The  in¬ 
truders  marched  direct  into  the  cloisters,  and  there  seized  Pierre 
d’Estaing,  whom  they  found  sitting  under  the  arcade,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  cries  and  resistance  of  the  monks,  who  had  been 
brought  together  by  the  noise  of  these  violent  proceedings, 
dragged  him  to  the  outside  of  the  convent,  where  they  ordered 
him  to  mount  a  horse  which  had  been  brought  there  in  readiness. 
On  his  reiusing  to  obey,  the  lord  of  Mirebeau  drew  his  dagger, 
and  struck  him  on  the  head,  so  as  to  produce  an  effusion  of 
blood ;  and  after  giving  him  several  blows  with  the  fist,  they 
bound  him  with  cords  and  tied  him  on  the  horse’s  back.  The 
whole  party  then  rode  off  at  full  gallop,  succeeded  in  passing  one 
of  the  gates  of  the  town  before  it  could  be  closed  upon  them,  and 
made  for  the  castle  of  Mirebeau,  where  their  prisoner  was  thrown 
into  the  castle  dungeon. 

Meanwhile  the  good  town  of  Dijon  was  thrown  into  a  great 
uproar.  The  mayor  and  echevins  met  the  same  day.  A  de- 


60 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tailed  proces-verbal  was  drawn  up  by  the  municipal  officers,  and 
witnesses  were  heard,  who  all  confirmed  the  account  given  by 
the  monks.  Not  only  had  there  been  a  flagrant  breach  of 
the  privileges  secured  to  the  town  by  its  charter,  which  gave 
to  the  municipal  officers  the  sole  right  of  arrest  within  the  town 
and  its  jurisdiction,  but  a  convent,  protected  by  the  strongest 
sympathies  of  the  municipality,  had  been  openly  violated.  The 
monastery  of  the  Jacobins  was,  indeed,  under  the  special  juris¬ 
diction  of  the  mayor  and  echevins  ;  and  it  was  within  its  walls 
that,  for  half  a  century,  the  municipal  elections  had  always  taken 
place.  On  the  morrow  Master  Etienne  Berbisey,  lieutenant  of 
the  mayor,  and  Master  Mougin  Lacorne,  secretary  of  the  munici¬ 
pality  (or,  as  we  should  say,  town-clerk),  were  sent  to  Mirebeau, 
to  demand  of  its  lord,  Jean  de  Bauffremont,  reparation  for  the  in¬ 
juries  done  to  the  privileges  of  Dijon  ;  but  he  made  evasive  an¬ 
swers,  and  evidently  wished  to  gain  time.  After  vain  attempts, 
on  the  part  of  the  town,  to  bring  their  opponent  to  reason  by 
friendly  expostulations,  the  authorities  proceeded  to  act  with  the 
vigor  that  so  frequently  characterized  the  measures  of  the  mu¬ 
nicipal  bodies  in  the  middle  ages.  On  the  13th  of  November, 
Philippe  Bergain,the  sergeant  and  crier  of  the  town,  summoned, 
by  sound  of  trumpet,  in  all  the  streets  and  places  of  Dijon,  the 
lord  Jean  de  Bauffremont  and  his  accomplices,  to  appear  before 
the  mayor,  on  Monday,  the  24th  of  November,  at  two  o’clock  in 
the  afternoon,  on  pain  of  confiscation  of  all  the  goods  he  pos¬ 
sessed  in  Dijon,  and  of  perpetual  banishment  from  the  town  and 
its  jurisdiction. 

The  town  had  met  with  a  formidable  antagonist  in  Jean  de 
Bauffremont,  who  quietly  set  the  municipal  authorities  at  defi¬ 
ance.  He  happened  to  possess  no  goods  within  the  limits  of 
their  jurisdiction,  so  that  their  only  hope  of  obtaining  justice  was 
by  calling  for  the  interference  of  their  feudal  lord,  the  duke  of  Bur¬ 
gundy,  to  whom,  and  to  his  house,  the  lord  of  Mirebeau  had  done 
important  services.  Jean  de  Bauffremont  had  accompanied  the 
duke  Jean-sans-Peur  to  the  siege  of  Bourges,  in  1412;  in  1417 
he  was  one  of  the  captains  who  besieged  the  castle  of  Nogent, 
and  who  received  its  capitulation  in  the  name  of  the  duke  :  and 
in  the  year  ensuing,  he  had  bravely  repulsed  the  troops  of  the 
king  of  France,  which  were  ravaging  the  frontiers  of  the  duchy. 
In  fact,  he  had  shown  himself,  through  these  desolating  civil 
wars,  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  devoted  adherents  of  the  Bur¬ 
gundian  party.  At  the  first  glance,  therefore,  the  success  of  an 
application  to  the  duke  appeared  to  be  very  doubtful.  But,  amid 


THE  LORD  OF  MIRE  BEAU. 


61 


the  constant  troubles  and  hostilities  of  the  middle  ages,  the  lead¬ 
ing  men  in  the  municipal  towns  learned  to  be  at  once  brave  cap¬ 
tains  and  skilful  diplomatists  ;  and  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel  that 
those  of  Dijon  were  not  deficient,  at  least  in  the  qualifications  of 
the  latter. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy  was  at  this  time  in  Holland,  at  the 
Hague,  whither  the  mayor  and  echevins  sent  messengers  with 
letters,  placing  themselves  under  his  special  protection.  They 
made  a  full  statement  of  the  affair,  pleaded  their  chartered  rights 
and  privileges,  and  ended  by  intimating  that  the  reason  they  had 
not  been  on  the  spot  in  time  to  seize  the  offenders  in  the  fact, 
and  exact  justice  for  themselves,  was  that  they  were  at  that  mo¬ 
ment  occupied  in  their  assembly  in  voting  unanimously  the  aid  of 
sixty  thousand  francs,  which  the  duke  had  asked  of  them  in  the 
month  of  January  preceding.  This  was  a  very  cunning  stroke 
of  policy,  and  seems  to  have  had  its  effect.  To  make  still  more 
sure,  the  burghers  wrote  at  the  same  time  to  the  duke’s  chan¬ 
cellor,  to  Jean  de  Molesmes,  the  duke’s  secretary,  Jean  Costain, 
his  butler,  to  Jean  Martin,  the  castellan  of  Rouvre  and  the  duke’s 
valet-de-chambre,  and  to  other  officers  of  the  ducal  household, 
recommending  the  cause  of  the  town  to  their  protection  in  the 
most  pressing  terms,  and  as  there  are  in  the  municipal  accounts 
of  this  period  a  number  of  vague  and  mysterious  entries  of  pay¬ 
ments  of  money  voted  by  the  town,  it.  seems  probable  that  other 
means  were  taken  to  make  clear  to  the  duke’s  councillors  the 
justice  of  this  cause.  The  result  was,  that  the  duke  took  up  the 
cause  of  the  burghers  with  zeal,  and  issued  on  the  9th  of  Decem¬ 
ber  a  peremptory  order  to  the  bailiff  of  Dijon  to  repair  immedi¬ 
ately  to  the  castle  of  Mirebeau,  to  deliver  the  prisoner,  and 
restore  him  to  the  place  whence  he  had  been  taken,  using 
force  in  case  of  resistance,  and  to  arrest  without  delay  all  per¬ 
sons  concerned  in  the  outrage,  and  commit  them  to  prison  in  the 
strong  castle  of  Talant,  belonging  to  the  duke,  and  situated  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Dijon.  On  the  31st  of  December  the  bai¬ 
liff’  of  Dijon,  Philippe  de  Courcelles,  went  to  Mirebeau  with  a 
strong  party  of  sergeants  and  men-at-arms,  but  he  found  the  gates 
of  the  castle  closed  and  barricaded.  After  he  had  knocked  three 
times  at  the  principal  entrance,  and  summoned  the  castle  by 
sound  of  horn  at  the  end  of  the  drawbridge,  the  chief  of  the 
watch,  who  is  called  the  bastard  Jean  de  Ruppes,  made  his  ap¬ 
pearance  ;  but  the  only  answer  he  would  give  was,  that  his  mas¬ 
ter  was  absent,  and  that  he  had  left  strict  orders  to  open  to  no¬ 
body.  The  bailiff’  then  read  the  duke’s  order,  but  in  vain  ;  where- 

6 


62 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


upon  he  pronounced  solemnly  the  confiscation  of  the  castle  of 
Mirebeau,  and  in  sign  of  seizure  placed  the  ducal  arms  on  the 
great  gate.  He  then  collected  together  the  people  of  the  town 
of  Mirebeau  by  sound  of  trumpet,  and  caused  the  crier,  as  well 
before  the  castle  as  in  the  market-place,  to  summon  the  lord 
Jean  de  Bauffremont,  and  his  accomplices,  and  the  bastard  Jean 
de  Ruppes,  to  appear  before  him  on  the  10th  of  January  follow¬ 
ing,  on  pain  of  banishment  and  final  confiscation  of  the  gOods  of 
all  the  persons  thus  summoned.  Philippe  de  Courcelles  then 
returned  with  his  escort  to  Dijon. 

The  affair  had  now  taken  a  very  serious  turn.  Jean  de  Bauf¬ 
fremont  imagined  that  it  would  end  in  a  mere  squabble  between 
himself  and  the  townsmen,  or  he  would  hardly  have  carried  the 
matter  so  far ;  but  when  he  saw  the  promptitude  with  which  the 
duke  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  town,  he  was  not  so  rash  as 
to  brave  an  authority  against  which  he  knew  that  he  was  power¬ 
less.  Accordingly,  when  the  10th  of  January  arrived,  he  came 
forward  and  surrendered  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  castle  of  Ta- 
lant.  The  prosecution  was  now  actively  followed  up  as  well  by 
the  duke’s  bailiff  as  in  the  municipal  court.  When  brought  into 
the  court  for  examination,  the  lord  of  Mirebeau  confessed  the 
crime  with  which  he  was  charged  ;  but  he  refused,  with  the  same 
obstinacy  which  had  been  shown  by  Pierre  d’Estaing  himself,  to 
give  any  account  of  the  motives  of  his  hostility  to  that  individ¬ 
ual.  The  bailiff  adjourned  his  judgment  from  day  to  day,  in  the 
expectation  of  further  disclosures.  The  municipal  body  held  a 
rapid  series  of  deliberations,  all  of  which  were  entered  in  their 
secret  register,  and  the  result  of  which  was  regularly  communi¬ 
cated  to  the  duke  and  his  counsellors,  in  a  correspondence  which 
was  carried  on,  without  interruption,  during  the  months  of  Jan¬ 
uary,  February,  and  March.  The  men-at-arms  of  the  town  were 
in  the  meantime  actively  engaged  in  tracing  the  accomplices  of 
Jean  de  Bauffremont,  who  had  hitherto  effectively  concealed  them¬ 
selves  ;  but  they  were  at  length  discovered,  and  were  all  arrested 
on  the  11th  of  March,  and  the  same  day  confronted  with  their 
master.  The  latter  now  made  a  full  confession  of  his  dealings 
with  Pierre  d’Estaing. 

It  appears  that  some  months  before  the  proceedings  described 
above,  a  certain  Jacobin  monk,  named  Olivier,  came  to  the  lord  of 
Mirebeau,  and  told  him,  that  among  other  things  there  was  a  man  at 
Moulins,  in  the  Bourbonnois,  who  had  an  art  (a  ligue,  as  he  termed 
it — perhaps  with  the  evil  one)  whereby  he  could  make  forty  or  fifty 
thousand  ecus  every  year,  and  that  he  was  called  Master  Pierre 


THE  LORD  OF  MIREBEAU. 


63 


d’Estaing,  a  gentleman  by  birth,  and,  as  he  said,  a  near  kinsman 
oi  the  pope.  Seeing  that  he  had  raised  the  curiosity  of  the  lord 
of  Mirebeau,  he  added  that,  if  it  were  his  pleasure,  he  would 
undertake  to  act  as  a  negotiator  for  him  with  the  said  Pierre 
d’Estaing.  The  cupidity  of  Jean  de  Bauffremont  was  strongly 
excited  and  he  eagerly  embraced  the  monk’s  offer ;  and  Brother 
Olivier  made  several  journeys  to  Moulins  at  his  expense,  to  con- 
vey  his  proposals  to  the  alchemist.  Led  by  the  favorable  reports 
which  this  monk  brought  him,  Jean  de  Bauflremont  repaired  to 
Moulins  in  person,  and  there  conversed  with  Master  Pierre,  and 
was  so  fully  satisfied  with  his  statements,  that  he  entered  into  an 
agreement  whereby  Pierre  d’Estaing  promised  to  put  him  in  pos¬ 
session  of  the  science  of  his  “  ligue,”  on  condition  that  the  lord 
of  Mirebeau  should  deposite  in  the  hands  of  a  merchant  the  sum 
of  one  thousand  ecus  of  gold,  which  were  to  be  given  to  Mas¬ 
ter  Pierre  as  soon  as  he  had  fulfilled  his  promise.  The  next  day 
the  lord  of  Mirebeau  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  “  fair  and 
great  promises”  of  the  alchemist,  that  he  gave  him  a  diamond  of 
the  value  of  twenty  ecus  or  more,  to  present  to  his  lady ;  which 
so  entirely  gained  his  heart,  that  he  immediately  agreed  to  re¬ 
duce  his  demand  from  a  thousand  to  five  hundred  ecus,  and  Jean 
de  Bauflremont  took  immediate  steps  to  raise  the  money.  From 
this  time  we-  hear  no  more  of  Brother  Olivier  ;  and  it  looks  much 
as  if  the  two  parties  chiefly  concerned  were  trying  mutually  to 
overreach  each  other. 

Before  Jean  de  Bauffremont  departed  from  Moulins,  Pierre 
d’Estaing  gave  him  one  of  his  servants  to  accompany  him  back 
to  Mirebeau,  there  to  commence  operations,  which  he  said  would 
take  three  months  before  it  would  be  necessaiy  for  him  to  inter¬ 
fere.  He  was  then  to  bring  the  preparation  to  Moulins,  and  to 
pay  two  hundred  ecus  into  the  hands  of  the  alchemist,  upon 
which  the  latter  would  enter  upon  the  more  secret  parts  of  the 
process,  which  his  servant  was  incapable  of  performing. 

Jean  de  Bauffremont  accordingly  returned  to  his  castle  of  Mire¬ 
beau  with  Pierre  d’Estaing’s  servant,  to  whom  he  gave  money  to 
defray  his  expenses.  At  Mirebeau,  the  servant  began  to  work 
assiduously  on  his  “  operations,”  in  the  course  of  which  he  was 
sent  several  times  to  consult  his  master,  always  at  Jean  de  Bauf- 
fremont’s  expense,  who  also  gave  him  daily  a  Rhenish  florin  for 
his  wages.  In  the  sequel  Pierre  d’Estaing  himself  came  to 
Mirebeau,  and  renewed  his  promises  to  its  lord,  who  in  return, 
assured  him  that  he  should  be  liberally  rewarded.  Master 
Pierre,  with  three  assistants,  had  remained  in  the  castle  a  con- 


G4 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


siderable  time,  at  Jean  de  Bauffremont’s  expense,  when  the  lat¬ 
ter  received  a  letter  from  the  count  of  Clermont,  son  of  the  duke 
of  Bourbon  and  Auvergne,  to  whose  house  the  alchemist  had 
been  attached.  The  count  congratulated  the  lord  of  Mirebeau 
on  the  acquisition  he  had  made  in  the  person  of  Master  Pierre 
d’Estaing,  who,  he  said,  was  quite  capable  of  performing  what 
he  had  promised,  adding,  that  he  would  not  have  permitted  him 
t.o  leave  his  service  for  that  of  any  other  person  ;  he  recommend¬ 
ed  him  to  keep  a  sharp  watch  on  the  alchemist,  and  if  he  did 
not  perform  his  work  to  his  satisfaction,  to  shut  him  up  in  a  place 
where  he  could  work  only  by  candle-light,  and  to  keep  him  there 
till  it  was  done  ;  and  concluded  by  expressing  a  hope  that  Jean 
de  Bauffremont  would  not  object,  to  share  with  him  the  great 
treasure  which  he  was  to  gain  by  the  labors  of  Master  Pierre. 

Jean  de  Bauffremont  immediately  showed  the  count’s  letter  to 
Pierre  d’Estaing,  who  was  much  abashed  when  he  heard  its  con¬ 
tents,  and  bursting  into  tears,  fell  on  his  knees  before  him,  and 
begged  that  he  would  have  pity  upon  him.  Jean  de  Bauffremont 
told  him  to  lay  aside  his  lears,  assured  him  that  no  one  should  injure 
him,  and  promised  to  treat  him  as  he  would  his  own  child.  It  ap¬ 
pears,  however,  that  he  led  him  into  the  chapel  of  the  castle,  and 
made  him  swear,  with  his  hand  upon  the  altar,  that  he  would  not 
go  beyond  the  castle  walls  until  he  had  entirely  completed  his 
task.  Upon  this  Pierre  d’Estaing  obtained  from  his  employer  a 
hundred  and  fifty  francs  to  give  to  his  first  servant,  a  horse  worth 
twelve  ecus,  and  a  mantle  of  four  ecus  ;  six  ecus  to  distribute 
among  his  other  servants  ;  twenty  ecus  to  send  to  his  house  at 
Moulins  ;  and  ten  ecus  to  send  to  his  “  chambriere”  (we  are  not 
told  if  this  were  the  lady  for  whom  the  diamond  was  designed). 
It  is  probable  that  the  alchemist  was  now  treated  with  rigor,  and 
that  he  considered  his  life  in  danger ;  for  these  last  transactions 
occurred  about  the  feast  of  All  Saints,  twm  or  three  days  after 
which,  while  Jean  de  Bauffremont  was  absent  on  a  visit  to  Vil- 
lers-les-Pots,  he  let  himself  down  from  one  of  the  castle  win 
dows  by  means  of  his  bed-clothes,  about  eloven  o’clock  at  night, 
passed  the  outer  watch  of  the  castle  unperceived,  and,  wander¬ 
ing  till  morning,  reached  the  town  of  Dijon,  where,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  he  sought  shelter  in  the  convent  of  the  Jacobins. 

Jean  de  Bauffremont  was  immediately  made  acquainted  with 
Master  Pierre’s  escape,  and  he  hurried  back  in  a  fury  to  Mire¬ 
beau,  where  the  hiding-place  of  the  fugitive  was  soon  known. 
According  to  his  own  account  of  what  followed,  the  lord  of  Mire¬ 
beau  repaired  with  a  party  of  his  friends  and  servants  to  Dijon, 


THE  LORD  OF  MIREBEAU. 


65 


and  there  gave  information  that  a  prisoner  had  escaped  from  his 
castle,  and  was  concealed  by  the  Jacobins.  Tlio  next  day  he 
went  to  the  monastery,  had  an  interview  with  Pierre  d’Estaing, 
and,  as  he  stated,  obtained  from  him  a  promise  to  return  with  him 
to  his  castle  and  continue  his  alchemical  operations,  which  seems 
to  have  been  the  thing  he  had  most  at  heart.  Finding  subse¬ 
quently  that  Master  Pierre  was  still  unwilling  to  leave  the  sanc¬ 
tuary,  he  represented  to  him  the  great  expenses  he  had  already 
been  at,  and  offered  to  pay  for  him  into  the  hands  of  some  person 
in  Dijon  a  thousand  ecus  as  the  reward  for  the  completion  of  his 
work,  pledging  himself  that  when  it  was  finished,  he  would  bring 
him  back  in  safety  and  restore  him  to  the  same  place  in  which 
he  had  now  taken  refuge.  The  alchemist  seems  now,  however, 
to  have  had  no  inclination  to  renew  his  experiments  ;  perhaps 
he  had  no  great  confidence  in  their  success,  and  Jean  de  Bauffre- 
mont,  finding  that  he  would  no  longer  put  any  trust  in  his  prom¬ 
ises,  told  him  openly  that  from  that  moment  he  considered  all 
their  engagements  broken,  and  that  each  must  do  his  best  for 
himself.  He  then  concerted  measures  for  taking  away  the  fugi¬ 
tive  by  force,  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  carried  into 
effect  early  on  the  following  morning. 

The  legal  investigation  of  this  strange  affair  being  brought  to 
a  close  by  the  confession  of  the  principal  offender,  the  mayor  and 
echevins  demanded,  in  the  name  of  the  crown,  that  Jean  de  Bauf- 
fremont  should  pay  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  ecus  of  gold,  to  be  em¬ 
ployed  on  the  fortification  of  the  town  wall,  and  that  his  accom¬ 
plices  should  be  given  up  to  the  judgment  of  the  municipal  court. 
The  latter  point  was  yielded  at  once,  without  any  hesitation,  and 
on  the  18th  of  March  the  court  pronounced  its  sentence,  accord¬ 
ing  to  which  the  men  who  had  aided  the  lord  of  Mirebeau  in  vio¬ 
lating  the-  sanctuary  of  the  convent,  were  to  be  brought  on  a 
Sunday,  in  their  shirts  and  barefoot,  each  with  a  lighted  taper  in 
his  hand  weighing  three  pounds,  before  the  same  gate  of  the 
town  through  which  Pierre  d’Estaing  had  been  carried  away, 
and  there  they  were  to  cry  “  mercy”  on  their  knees  before  the 
mayor  and  echevins,  who  were  to  be  summoned  for  the  occasion, 
and  they  were  also  to  cry  “  mercy”  to  the  whole  town,  at  the  same 
time  making  a  public  confession  of  their  crime  ;  they  were  then 
to  recite  the  amende  honorable,  after  which  each  was  to  have  one 
of  his  hands  cut  off ;  they  were  next  to  carry  the  tapers  to  the 
monastery  of  the  Jacobins,  and  there  offer  them  at  the  high  altar  ; 
after  which  they  were  to  pay  a  pecuniary  fine  proportionate  to 
their  means,  and  to  be  banished  from  the  town  and  jurisdiction 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


66 

of  Dijon  for  ever.  This  sentence  was  executed  to  the  letter  on 
the  first  Sunday  in  April. 

It  appears  to  have  been  a  much  more  difficult  matter  to  pro¬ 
nounce  judgment  on  the  person  of  Jean  de  Bauffremont,  who  re¬ 
mained  in  prison  till  the  month  of  December  following,  without 
any  prospect  of  a  satisfactory  decision  of  his  cause.  He  then 
wrote  to  the  mayor  to  propose  terms  of  arrangement,  and  sent 
the  letter  by  one  of  the  duke’s  councillors  ;  but  when  the  com¬ 
mon  council  of  the  town  had  held  two  deliberations  on  the  sub¬ 
ject,  he  only  received  for  answer  that,  since  the  cause  was  now 
in  the  duke’s  court,  and  before  his  bailiff,  it  was  not  in  the  power 
of  the  municipal  body  to  enter  upon  his  proposals.  Jean  de 
Bauffremont  then  wrote  direct  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  begging 
in  the  most  abject  terms,  that  the  duke  would  have  compassion 
upon  him.  Three  months  again  passed  away  ;  but  at  length,  on 
the  26tli  of  March,  1457,  Duke  Philippe,  then  at  Brussels,  granted 
the  prisoner  letters  of  pardon  and  restitution  to  his  goods,  on 
condition  that  he  should  give  sureties  for  making  his  peace  with 
the  town. 

This,  however,  was  not  so  easily  done.  A  new  series  of  pro¬ 
ceedings  was  commenced,  in  the  course  of  which  the  lord  of 
Mirebeau  died.  They  still  remain  undecided  in  the  year  1462, 
when  the  cause  was  again  prosecuted  against  Jean  de  Bauffre- 
mont’s  widow,  Marguerite  de  Ch&lon,  and  his  son,  Pierre  de 
Bauffremont,  and,  by  the  duke’s  orders,  the  affair  was  carried  be¬ 
fore  the  parliament  of  Burgundy,  then  sitting  at  Beaune.  This 
new  process  lasted  till  1470,  in  which  year,  on  the  12th  of  Jan¬ 
uary,  the  parliament  condemned  the  heirs  of  Jean  de  Bauffremont 
to  a  fine  of  four  thousand  livres  to  the  town,  which  was  subse¬ 
quently,  by  an  agreement  of  the  two  parties,  commuted  for  one 
thousand  livres.  It  was  not  till  the  6th  of  August,  1472,  that  the 
judgment  of  the  parliament  was  executed,  and  that  this  long  af¬ 
fair,  which  had  been  held  in  suspense  during  more  than  fifteen 
years,  was  fully  terminated.* 

*  The  documents  of  this  remarkable  story  are  published  in  an  article  in  the  “Bib- 
liotheque  de  l'Ecole  des  Charles.” 


THE  ENCHANTER  VIRGIL. 


67 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  EARLIER  MEDIEVAL  TVPE  OF  THE  SORCERER  ;  VIRGIL  THE 

ENCHANTER. 

We  have  hitherto  been  obliged  to  form  our  notion  of  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  sorcery  and  magic  in  the  middle  ages  from  individual  and 
scattered  examples  of  superstitious  practices.  But  it  was  a  pe¬ 
culiar  trait  in  the  character  of  the  middle  ages  to  create  imagin¬ 
ary  personages,  and  clothe  them  with  the  attributes  of  a  class  ■ 
types,  as  it  were,  of  popular  belief  or  of  popular  attachment  or 
glory.  Such,  in  that  age,  to  history  and  to  sentiment,  were  the 
heroes  and  heroines  of  its  romances.  Romance,  indeed,  was 
then  but  a  sort  of  reflection  of  the  popular  mind.  The  despised 
and  hated  witch  has  left  us  no  such  type  of  her  life  and  history  ; 
but  the  magician  or  sorcerer  held  a  higher  rank  in  public  esti¬ 
mation.  From  a  feeling  which  may  be  traced  back  to  Runic 
ages,  when  every  letter  of  the  alphabet  was  supposed  to  possess 
its  mystic  power  as  an  instrument  of  magic,  his  vocation  was 
looked  upon  with  more  reverence  as  closely  connected  with  lite¬ 
rature  and  science. 

Either  from  this  circumstance,  or  because  their  names  w'ere 
popularly  attached  to  some  of  the  marvellous  remains  of  ancient 
art,  the  people  of  the  middle  ages  first  saw  the  type  of  the  magi¬ 
cian  in  the  poets  and  philosophers  of  classic  days.  The  physi¬ 
cian  Hippocrates,  under  the  corrupted  name  of  Ypocras,  was 
supposed  to  have  effected  his  cures  by  magic,  and  he  was  the 
subject  of  a  legendary  history,  certainly  as  old  as  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century,  containing  incidents  which  were  subsequently 
told  of  a  more  celebrated  conjuror,  Virgil.  In  the  popular  creed 
of  the  middle  ages,  medicine  was  also  closely  allied  with  witch¬ 
craft  and  the  forbidden  sciences ;  many  of  the  herbs  and  other 
articles  which  restored  the  patient  to  health  had  qualities  of  a 
more  mysterious  nature,  and  the  philter  or  the  more  fearlul  mix¬ 
ture  of  the  sorcerer’s  caldron,  which  had  the  power  of  com¬ 
manding  the  spirit  of  darkness,  were  but  an  extension  of  the 
physician’s  specific.  W  e  shall  have  occasion  to  recur  again  to 
this  subject,  and  show  how  far  a  knowledge  of  the  medical  prop¬ 
erties  of  herbs  and  other  things  did  form  a  part  of  medieval  sor- 


68 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


eery,  and  was  used  for  deadly  purposes.  It  is  not  impossible 
that  the  equivocal  meaning  .of  the  Latin  word  curmen  (which 
means  a  poem  and  a  charm)  may  have  contributed  to  the  popular 
reputation  of  the  poets.  Down  to  a  very  recent  period,  if  not  at 
the  present  day,  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  of  Palestrina 
have  looked  upon  Horace  as  a  powerful  and  benevolent  wizard.. 
A  story,  apparently  not  more  modern  than  the  thirteenth  century, 
represents  two  scholars  proceeding  to  the  tomb  of  Ovid,  and  re¬ 
ceiving  answers  from  his  manes  ;  in  fact,  practising  necromancy. 
But  the  personages  of  antiquity  about  whom  these  mysterious 
legends  were  principally  grouped  was  the  poet  Virgil.  It  would 
perhaps  not  be  very  difficult  to  point  out  some  reasons  for  which 
such  tales  were  attached  to  the  memory  of  one  who  seems  to 
have  found  a  place  in  popular  superstition  from  a  very  early  pe¬ 
riod,  and  whose  name  was  connected  in  popular  tradition  with 
several  ancient  monuments  in  Italy. 

We  find  scattered  allusions  to  the  supposed  exploits  of  Virgil 
at  an  early  period,  connected  chiefly  with  Naples  and  Rome. 
Gervase  of  Tilbury,  a  well-known  writer  of  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century,  heard,  while  in  Italy,  how  Virgil  had  placed  a 
brazen  fly  on  one  of  the  gates  of  the  former  city,  which  kept  the 
city  free  from  real  flies  ;  how  he  had  erected  chambers  in  which 
meat  could  be  kept  for  any  length  of  time  without  tainting ;  and 
how  he  had  placed  two  images  of  stone  at  another  gate  of  Na¬ 
ples,  which  severally  he  endowed  with  the  quality  of  giving 
good  fortune  or  bad  fortune  to  strangers  who,  entering  the  city, 
approached  by  the  one  or  the  other.  According  to  this  writer, 
he  raised  on  a  mountain  near  Naples  a  statue  of  brass,  which 
had  in  its  mouth  a  trumpet,  and  when  the  north  wind  blew,  this 
trumpet  sounded  so  loud,  that  the  fire  and  smoke  issuing  out  of 
those  forges  of  Vulcan,  which  are  at  this  day  seen  near  the  city 
of  Puossola  (Puzzuola),  were  forced  back  toward  the  sea,  so  as 
not  to  injure  or  annoy  the  inhabitants.  He  made  three  baths  ca¬ 
pable  of  removing  every  disorder,  with  inscriptions  in  letters  of 
gold  ;  but  the  latter  were  cunningly  defaced  by  the  physicians  of 
Salerno,  who  were  jealous  lest  people  should  be  cured  of  their 
diseases  without  their  intervention.  He  also  made  a  contrivance 
by  which  no  man  could  be  hurt  in  the  miraculous  vault  cut 
through  the  mountain  at  Posilippo  in  going  to  Naples.  He 
further  made  a  public  fire,  where  every  one  might  warm  himself, 
near  which  he  placed  a  brazen  archer,  with  his  bow  and  arrow 
drawn  ready  to  shoot,  and  an  inscription,  stating,  “  If  any  one 
strike  me,  I  will  shoot  off  my  arrow.”  At  length  a  fool-hardy 


VIRGIL  INITIATED  IN  MAGIC. 


G9 


individual  struck  tlie  archer,  who  shot  him  with  the  arrow,  and 
sent  him  into  the  tire,  which  was  immediately  extinguished. 
Other  writers  added  to  this  list  of  Virgil’s  wonders.  But  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  more  explicit  and  connected  story  of 
the  enchanter  Virgil,  from  what  period  it  is  difficult  to  say, 
which  appeared  in  a  French  history  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  was  printed  at  the  close  of  that  century  and  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth.  Two  editions  are  known,  and  it  has  been  re¬ 
printed.  About  the  same  time,  “  the  Life  of  Virgilius”  appeared 
in  English,  printed  at  Antwerp  by  John  Doesborcke,  about  the 
year  1508.  The  English  story  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
taken  directly  from  the  French,  at  least  not  from  the  printed  edi¬ 
tion,  from  which  it  differs  considerably  in  some  of  its  details  and 
in  its  extent.  It  gives  us  the  full  outline  of  the  medieval  belief 
in  Virgil  the  magician. 

Virgil,  according  to  this  story  was  the  son  of  a  Roman  sena¬ 
tor  of  great  wealth  and  power,  who  was  at  war  with  the  emperor 
of  Rome.  Virgil’s  birth  was  attended  with  prodigies,  and  he 
soon  showed  so  much  aptitude  for  learning,  that  he  was  sent  to 
school  at  Toledo.  Toledo,  as  I  have  already  observed,  was  a 
celebrated  school  of  magic  in  the  middle  ages  ;  but  the  way  in 
which  Virgil  obtained  his  knowledge  was  sufficiently  singular  to 
deserve  being  repeated  in  the  quaint  language  of  the  original. 
“  And  Virgilius,”  we  are  told,  “  was  at  scole  at  Tolenten,  where 
he  stodyed  dyligently,  for  he  was  of  great  understandynge. 
Upon  a  tyme  the  scholers  hadde  lycence  to  goo  to  play  and  sporte 
them  in  the  fyldes  after  the  usaunce  of  the  olde  tyme  ;  and  there 
was  also  Virgilius  thereby  also  walkynge  among  the  hylles  all 
about.  It  fortuned  he  spyed  a  great  hole  in  the  syde  of  a  great 
hyll,  wherein  he  went  so  depe  that  he  culde  not  see  no  more  lyght, 
and  than  he  went  a  lytell  ferther  therein,  and  than  he  sawe  som 
lyght  agayne,  and  than  wente  he  fourth  streyghte.  And  within 
a  lytyll  wyle  after  he  harde  a  voice  that  called,  ‘  Virgilius,  Vir¬ 
gilius  !’  and  he  loked  aboute,  and  he  colde  nat  see  nobodye. 
Than  Virgilius  spake,  and  asked,  ‘Who  calleth  me  V  Than 
harde  he  the  voyce  agayne,  but  he  sawe  nobody.  Than  sayd  he, 
‘  Virgilius,  see  ye  not  that  lytyll  bourde  lyinge  bysyde  you  there 
marked  with  that  worde  V  Than  answered  Virgilius,  ‘  I  see  that 
borde  well  enough.’  The  voyce  sayd,  ‘  Doo  awaye  that  bourd, 
and  lette  me  oute  theratte.’  Than  answered  Virgilius  to  the 
voyce  that  was  under  the  lytell  borde,  and  sayd,  ‘  Who  art  thow 
that  talkest  me  so  V  Than  answered  the  devyll,  ‘  I  am  a  devyll 
conjured  out  of  the  body  of  a  certeyne  man,  and  banysshed  here 


70 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tyll  the  day  of  jugement,  without  that  I  be  delyvered  by  the 
handes  of  men.  Thus,  Virgilius,  I  pray  the  delyver  me  out  of 
this  payn,  and  I  shall  shewe  unto  the  many  bokes  of  nygro- 
mancy,  and  howe  thow  shalt  cum  by  it  lyghtly  and  knowe  the 
practyse  therein,  that  no  man  in  the  scyence  of  negromancye 
shall  pass  the  ;  and,  moreover,  I  shall  showe  and  enforme  you 
so  that  thou  shalt  have  all  thy  desyre,  wherby  me  thynke  it  is  a 
great  gyfte  for  so  lytyll  a  doynge,  for  ye  may  also  thus  your  poor 
frendys  helpen,  and  make  ryghte  your  ennemyes  unmyghty.’ 
Thorowgli  that  great  promyse  was  Virgilius  tempted;  he  badde 
the  fynd  showe  the  bokes  to  hym,  that  he  myght  have  and  occu¬ 
py  them  at  his  wyll.  And  so  the  fynd  shewed  hym,  and  than 
Virgilius  pulled  open  a  bourde,  and  there  was  a  lytell  hole,  and 
thereat  wrange  the  devyll  out  lyke  a  yeel  [an  eel],  and  cam  and 
stode  byfore  Virgilius  lyke  a  bygge  man.  Thereof  Virgilius  was 
astoned  [astonished]  and  merveyled  greatly  thereof,  that  so  great 
a  man  myght  come  out  at  so  lytell  a  hole.  Than  sayd  Virgilius, 

‘  Shulde  ye  well  passe  into  the  hole  that  ye  cam  out  of?’ — 4  Ye, 
I  shall  well,’  sayd  the  devyll.  4 1  holde  the  beste  pledge  that  I 
have,  ye  shall  not  do  it.’  4Well,’sayde  the  devyll,  4  thereto  I 
consente.’  And  than  the  devyll  wrange  hymselfe  into  the  lytell 
hole  agen,  and  as  he  was  therein,  Virgilius  kyvered  the  hole 
ageyn,  with  the  bourd  close,  and  so  was  the  devyll  begyled,  and 
myght  not  there  come  out  agen,  but  there  abydeth  shytte  [shut] 
styll  therein.  Than  called  the  devyll  dredefully  to  Virgilius,  and 
sayd,  4  What  have  ye  done  V  Virgilius  answered,  4  Abyde  there 
styll  to  your  day  apoynted.’  And  fro  thensforth  abydeth  he 
there.  And  so  Virgilius  becam  very  connynge  in  the  practyse 
of  the  blacke  scyence.” 

While  Virgil  was  thus  pursuing  such  studies,  his  father  died, 
and  the  other  senators  joined  in  usurping  his  inheritance,  on  the 
principle  that  the  smaller  number  of  persons  being  in  power,  the 
greater  would  be  the  power  of  each  individual.  Virgil’s  mother 
next  became  aged,  and  she  sent  for  her  son  from  Toledo  to  pro¬ 
tect  her,  and  reclaim  his  property  and  rank.  Virgil  collected 
the  riches  he  had  gained  by  his  science,  and  repaired  to  Rome, 
and  was  received  well  by  his  44  poor  kinsmen,”  as  they  had  no 
interest  contrary  to  his  own  ;  but  the  rich  leagued  with  his  ene¬ 
mies,  and  would  not  acknowledge  him.  Then  he  went  before 
the  emperor,  stated  his  case,  and  demanded  his  rights.  The 
emperor  hesitated,  and  listened  to  evil  counsellors,  who  said, 
44  Methinketh  that  the  land  is  well  divided  to  them  that  have  it, 
for  they  may  help  you  in  their  need  ;  what  needeth  you  for  to 


VIRGIL  DECEIVED  BY  A  LADY. 


71 


care  for  the  disheriting  of  one  schoolmaster?  bid  him  take  heed 
and  look  to  his  schools,  for  he  hath  no  right  to  any  land  here 
about  the  city  of  Rome.”  And  so  the  emperor  put  him  off  for 
four  or  five  years. 

But  Virgil,  aware  of  his  own  powers,  was  determined  not  to 
be  thus  deluded.  He  waited  quietly  till  harvest,  conciliating 
his  poor  kinsmen  and  friends  by  his  liberality,  and  then,  when 
corn  and  fruit  were  ripe,  he  threw,  by  art-magic,  a  mist  over  all 
the  lands  of  his  inheritance,  so  that  their  new  possessors  could 
not  approach  them,  and  so  quietly  gathered  in  the  whole  prod¬ 
uce.  “  And  when  Virgil’s  enemies  saw  the  fruit  so  gathered, 
they  assembled  a  great  power,  and  came  toward  Virgilius  to 
take  him  and  smite  off  his  head  ;  and  when  they  were  assem¬ 
bled,  they  were  so  strong  that  the  emperor  for  fear  fled  out  of 
Rome,  for  they  were  twelve  senators  that  had  all  the  world  un¬ 
der  them;  and  if  Virgilius  had  had  right,  he  had  been  one  of 
the  twelve,  but  they  had  disinherited  him  and  his  mother.  And 
when  Virgilius  knew  of  their  coming,  he  closed  all  his  lands 
with  the  air  round  about  all  his  land,  that  no  living  creature 
might  there  come  in  to  dwell  against  his  [Virgil’s]  will  or  pleas¬ 
ure.” 

This  dispute  led  to  still  more  important  events.  The  empe¬ 
ror  took  part  with  the  senators,  and  they  all  joined  in  making 
war  upon  Virgil,  who  not  only  found  safety  in  his  enchantments, 
but  he  at  length  compelled  the  emperor  to  restore  him  to  his 
rights.  From  this  moment  Virgil  became  the  emperor’s  greatest 
friend,  and  was  the  foremost  in  all  his  counsels. 

“  After  that  it  happened  that  Virgilius  was  enamored  of  a  fair 
lady,  the  fairest  in  all  Rome.  Virgilius  made  a  craft  in  necro¬ 
mancy  that  told  her  all  his  mind  ;  when  the  lady  knew  his  mind, 
she  thought  in  herself  to  deceive  him,  and  said,  If  he  will  come 
at  midnight  to  the  castle  wall,  she  should  let  down  a  basket  with 
strong  cords,  and  there  to  draw  him  up  at  her  window,  and  so 
lie  by  her  and  have  his  pleasure  ;  and  with  this  answer  was 
Virgilius  very  glad,  and  said  he  should  do  it  with  a  good  will.” 
It  appears  that  the  tower  in  which  the  lady  dwelt  was  one  of  the 
most  public  places  in  Rome,  immediately  looking  over  the  mar¬ 
ket,  and  that  it  was  there  that  malefactors  were  exhibited  to  pub¬ 
lic  view.  Virgil  went  in  the  night,  found  the  basket,  jumped 
into  it,  and  was  rejoiced  at  finding  himself  pulled  up  with  no 
hesitating  hand.  But  when  the  basket  was  half  way  up  the 
tower,  the  lady,  who  had  no  intention  of  yielding  to  his  seduc¬ 
tions,  left  it,  and  Virgil  remained  in  this  disgraceful  posture  to 


72 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


be  gazed  at  and  ridiculed  by  the  multitude  during  the  whole  of 
the  following  day,  until  the  emperor  himself  interfered,  at  whose 
request  the  enchanter  was  released  from  his  penance. 

Virgil  hastened  home,  breathing  nothing  but  vengeance.  He 
began  by  extinguishing  all  the  fire  in  Rome  except  his  own. 
The  Romans  soon  found  the  inconvenience  of  this  measure,  and 
made  their  complaint  to  the  emperor,  who  went  to  seek  assist¬ 
ance  of  Virgil.  The  latter  at  once  told  him  that,  if  he  wished 
for  relief,  he  must  cause  the  lady  to  be  brought  out  in  a  state  of 
nudity  and  placed  in  a  public  part  of  the  city,  and  that  every 
Roman  who  wanted  fire  must  go  and  light  his  candle  or  torch 
on  her  person  in  a  manner  which  hardly  admits  of  detailed  de¬ 
scription.  She  was  exposed  in  this  manner  during  three  days, 
“  and  after  the  third  day  went  the  gentlewoman  home  sore 
ashamed,  for  ‘she  knew  well  that  Virgilius  had  done  that  vio¬ 
lence  to  her.”* 

Virgil  now  married,  and  after  his  marriage  he  built  by  his 
magic  art  a  palace  for  the  emperor,  with  four  corners,  answer¬ 
ing  to  the  four  quarters  of  Rome  ;  and  when  the  emperor  placed 
himself  in  any  one  of  these  corners,  he  heard  all  that  was  said 
in  the  corresponding  quarter  of  the  city,  so  that  no  secret  could 
be  kept  from  him.  Thus  was  the  state  protected  against  do¬ 
mestic  enemies  ;  but  it  was  requisite  also  to  guard  against  out¬ 
ward  foes.  And  one  day  “  the  emperor  asked  of  Virgilius  how 
that  he  might  make  Rome  prosper  and  have  many  lands  under 
them,  and  know  when  any  land  would  rise'  against  them  ;  and 
Virgilius  said  to  the  emperor,  ‘  I  will,  Avithin  short  space,  that 
do.’  And  he  made  upon  the  capitolium,  that  was  the  town- 
house,  carved  images  of  stone,  and  that  he  let  call  salvatio 
Roma,  that  is  to  say,  the  salvation  of  the  city  of  Rome.  And 
he  made  in  the  compass  all  the  gods  that  we  call  mawmets  and 
idols,  that  were  under  the  subjection  of  Rome  ;  and  each  of  the 
gods  that  were  there  had  in  his  hand  a  bell,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  gods  he  made  one  god  of  Rome.  And  whensoever  that 
there  was  any  land  that  would  make  any  war  against  Rome, 
then  would  the  gods  turn  their  backs  toward  the  god  of  Rome  ; 
and  then  the  god  of  the  land  that  would  stand  up  against  Rome 

*  This  was  the  most  popular  of  the  legends  relating  to  the  magician  Virgil,  and 
is  frequently  alluded  to  in  old  writings.  ‘The  stoiq'  itself  is  generally  told  with 
coarse  details,  better  suited  to  those  times  than  to  the  present.  The  reader  may 
be  referred,  for  an  example,  to  the  account  of  this  legend  given  in  the  Pastime  of 
Pleasure  of  Stephen  Hawes  (see  the  edition  published  by  the  Percy  Society,  page 
139).  This  story  was  told  of  Hippocrates,  or  Ypocras,  before  it  was  fathered  upon 
Virgil. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  SALYATIO  ROM  A3. 


73 


clinked  his  bell  so  long  that  he  had  in  his  hand,  till  the  senators 
of  Rome  heard  it,  and  forthwith  they  went  there  and  saw  what 
land  it  was  that  would  war  against  them,  and  so  they  prepared 
them,  and  went  against  them,  and  subdued  them.” 

This  also  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the  legends  relating 
to  “Virgil  the  necromancer  ;  and  we  can  easily  imagine  how  vul- 
g^ai  cieduhty  invented  such  a  belief  to  explain  the  remains  of 
Roman  statuary  which  were  still  visible  in  the  middle  ages.  The 
destruction  of  the  salvatio  Romes  was  not  less  singular  than  its 
origin. 

“  This  foresaid  token  knew  the  men  of  Carthage,  that  were 
sore  aggrieved  for  the  great  harm  that  the  Romans  had  done 
them.  And  they  took  a  privy  counsel  in  what  manner  they 
might  destroy  that  work.  Then  thought  they  in  their  mind  to 
send  three  men  out,  and  gave  them  great  multitude  of  gold  and 
silver ;  and  these  three  men  took  their  leave  of  the  lordes,  and 
went  towards  the  city  of  Rome,  and  when  they  were  come  to 
Rome,  they  reported  themselves  soothsayers  and  true  dreamers. 
Upon  a  time  went  these  three  men  to  a  hill  that  was  within  the 
city,  and  there  they  buried  a  great  pot  of  money  very  deep  in  the 
earth,  and  when  that  was  done  and  covered  again,  they  went  to 
the  bridge  of  Tiber,  and  let  fall  in  a  certain  place  a  great  barrel 
with  golden  pence.#  And  when  this  was  done,  those  three  men 
went  to  the  senators  of  Rome,  and  said,  ‘  Worshipful  lords,  we 
have  this  night  dreamed,  that  within  the  foot  of  a  hill  here  with¬ 
in  Rome  is  a  great  pot  with  money  ;  will  ye,  lords,  grant  it  to 
us,  and  we  shall  do  the  cost  to  seek  thereafter  V  And  the  lords 
consented  ;  and  they  took  laborers,  and  delved  the  money  out 
of  the  earth.  And  when  it  was  done,  they  went  another  time  to 
the  lords,  and  said,  ‘  Worshipful  lords,  we  have  also  dreamed 
that  in  a  certain  place  of  Tiber  lieth  a  barrel  full  of  golden 
pence,  if  that  you  will  grant  to  us  that,  we  shall  go  seek  it.’  And 
the  lords  of  Rome,  thinking  no  deceit,  granted  to  those  sooth¬ 
sayers,  and  bade  them  do  what  they  should  to  do  their  best. 
And  then  the  soothsayers  were  glad  ;  and  they  hired  ships,  and 
men,  and  went  towards  the  place  where  it  was,  and  when  they 
were  come  there,  they  sought  in  every  place  there  about,  and  at 
the  last  found  the  barrel  full  of  golden  pence,  whereof  they 
were  right  glad.  And  then  they  gave  to  the  lords  costly  gifts. 

*  We  can  not  help  seeing  how  naturally  legends  like  this  arose  out  of  the  fre¬ 
quent  discoveries  of  the  concealed  treasures  of  ancient  times,  and  the  constant  re¬ 
covery  of  antiquities  from  such  rivers  as  the  Tiber.  The  English  antiquary  will 
understand  this  perfectly  well.  The  Thames  has  always  been  rich  in  the  produce 
which  would  give  rise  to  such  stories. 


7 


74 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


And  then,  to  come  to  their  purpose,  they  came  to  the  lords  again, 
and  said  to  them,  ‘  Worshipful  lords,  we  have  dreamed  again 
that  under  the  foundation  of  capitolium,  there  where  salvatio 
Ro7jice  standetli,  be  twelve  barrels  full  of  gold  ;  and  pleaseth  you, 
lords,  that  you  would  grant  us  the  licence,  it  shall  be  to  your 
great  advantage.’  And  the  lords,  stirred  with  covetousness, 
granted  them,  because  two  times  afore  they  told  true  ;  whereof 
they  were  glad,  and  got  laborers,  and  began  to  dig  under  the 
foundation  of  salvatio  Roma;  and  when  they  thought  they  had 
digged  enough,  they  departed  from  Rome,  and  the  next  day  fol¬ 
lowing  fell  that  house  down,  and  all  the  work  that  Virgilius  had 
made.  And  so  the  lords  knew  that  they  were  deceived,  and 
were  sorrowful,  and  afler  that  had  no  fortune  as  they  had  afore- 
times.”* 

After  having  contrived  this  defence  against  the  outward 
enemies  of  Rome,  Virgil  was  desired  by  the  emperor  to  invent 
some  method  of  clearing  the  city  of  the  numerous  banditti  who 
infested  it  by  night,  and  who  robbed  and  murdered  great  num¬ 
bers  of  its  inhabitants.  He  accordingly  made  images  of  cop¬ 
per,  and  the  emperor  having  issued  a  decree  that  no  honest 
people  should  appear  out  of  their  houses  after  a  certain  hour  at 
night,  these  images  swept  through  the  city,  destroying  every  liv¬ 
ing  being  that  was  found  in  the  streets.  After  an  attempt  to 
evade  these  perilous  enemies,  the  robbers  were  all  killed  or 
driven  away.  We  can  easily  understand  how  the  popular  ima¬ 
gination  formed  legends  like  this  on  the  sculptures  of  bronze  and 
other  material  that  must  have  been  frequently  discovered  among 
the  ruins  of  ancient  Rome.  Virgil’s  next  performance  was  a 
sort  of  prototype  of  the  electric  light.  “  For  profit  of  the  com¬ 
mon  people,  Virgilius,  on  a  great  mighty  marble  pillar,  did  make 
a  bridge  that  came  up  to  the  palace,  and  so  went  Virgilius  well 
up  the  pillar  out  of  the  palace.  That  palace  and  the  pillar  stood 
in  the  middle  of  Rome  ;  and  upon  this  pillar  made  he  a  lamp  of 
glass  that  alway  burned  without  going  out,  and  nobody  might  put 
it  out;  and  this  lamp  lightened  over  all  the  city  of  Rome  from 
the  one  corner  to  the  other,  and  there  was  not  so  little  a  street 
but  it  gave  such  a  light  that  it  seemed  two  torches  there  had 
stand.  And  upon  the  walls  of  the  palace  made  he  a  metal  man 
that  held  in  his  hand  a  metal  bow  that  pointed  ever  upon  the 
lamp  to  shoot  it  out ;  but  alway  burned  the  lamp  and  gave  light 

*  This  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the  early  legends  relating  to  Virgil.  It  is 
found  in  the  early  collection  of  stories  entitled  the  Seven  Sages,  and  frequently 
elsewhere. 


VIRGIL  AND  THE  SULTAN’S  DAUGHTER. 


75 


over  all  Rome.  And  upon  a  time  went  the  burgesses’  daughters 
to  play  in  the  palace,  and  they  beheld  the  metal  man,  and  one 
of  them  asked  in  sport,  why  he  shot  not ;  and  then  she  came  to  the 
man,  and  with  her  hand  touched  the  bow,  and  then  the  bolt  [ar¬ 
row]  flew  out  and  brake  the  lamp  that  Yirgilius  made.  And  it  was 
wonder  that  the  maiden  went  not  out  of  her  mind  for  the  great 
fear  she  had,  and  also  the.  other  burgesses’  daughters  that  were 
in  her  company,  of  the  great  stroke  that  it  gave  when  it  hit  the 
lamp,  and  when  they  saw  the  metal  man  so  swiftly  run  his  way, 
and  never  after  was  he  no  more  seen.  And  this  foresaid  lamp 
was  abyding  burning  after  the  death  of  Virgilius  by  the  space  of 
three  hundred  years  or  more.” 

After  this,  Virgil  made  himsglf  a  wonderful  orchard  or  garden, 
and  placed  in  it  an  extraordinary  fountain,  with  a  cellar  or  vault 
in  which  to  store  up  his  great  wealth.  “  And  he  set  two  metal 
men  before  the  door  to  keep  it,  and  in  each  hand  a  great  ham¬ 
mer,  and  therewith  they  smote  upon  an  anvil,  one  after  the  other, 
insomuch  that  the  birds  that  fly  over  heareth  it,  and  by-and-by 
falleth  there  down  dead;  and  otherwise  had  Virgilius  not  his 
good  [that  is,  wealth]  kept.”  Another  image  made  by  Vir¬ 
gil  produced  effects  which  were  by  no  means  agreeable  to  the 
Roman  ladies,  in  consequence  of  which  his  wife  went  secretly 
and  overthrew  it;  and  when  he  discovered  this,  “from  thence¬ 
forth  began  Virgilius  to  hate  his  wife.” 

The  next  of  Virgil’s  exploits  appears  to  have  been  taken  from 
some  one  of  the  old  Spanish  romances.  Virgil  had  heard  people 
speak  often  of  the  beauty  of  the  sultan’s  daughter,  and  he  deter¬ 
mined  to  possess  her.  By  his  “  cunning”  he  made  a  bridge  in 
the  air,  by  which  he  passed  over  in  an  instant  to  the  sultan’s  pal¬ 
ace  in  Babylon.  There  he  introduced  himself  into  the  chamber 
of  the  princess,  and  overcame  her  scruples  without  much  diffi¬ 
culty,  although  “  she  never  saw  him  before.”  At  length  he  pre¬ 
vailed  upon  her  to  accompany  him  in  his  return,  and  he  carried 
her  through  the  air  to  his  orchard,  in  Italy,  and  there  he  kept  her 
as  long  as  he  liked,  and  afterward  replaced  her  in  her  bed  in  her 
father’s  palace.  The  sultan  meanwhile  missed  his  daughter,  and 
in  his  distress  he  had  caused  diligent  search  to  be  made  for  her, 
but  without  success,  when  he  was  informed  that  she  was  asleep 
in  her  bed.  He  was  overjoyed  at  her  recovery,  and  examined 
her  closely  as  to  the  cause  and  manner  of  her  disappearance, 
and  she  confessed  the  whole,  but  she  neither  knew  who  had  ear¬ 
ned  her  away,  or  whither  she  was  taken.  It  was  not  long,  how¬ 
ever,  before  Virgil  came  to  seek  her  again,  and  then,  by  her 


76 


SORCERY  AND  MAfilC. 


father’s  directions,  the  princess  took  home  with  her  some  of  the 
fruit  which  her  lover  had  given  her  to  eat,  from  which  the  sul¬ 
tan  concluded  that  she  had  been  carried  to  some  place  “  on  the 
side  of  France.”  After  she  had  been  frequently  carried  away  in 
this  manner,  the  sultan,  under  pretence  that  he  wished  to  ascer¬ 
tain  whence  her  lover  came,  persuaded  the  princess  to  give  him 
a  sleeping-draught,  and  thus  was  the  intruder  captured,  and  thrown 
into  prison  ;  and  it  was  judged  that  both  he  and  his  mistress 
should  be  burnt  for  their  misdeeds.  “  When  Virgilius  heard  of 
this,  he  made  with  his  cunning  the  sidtan  and  all  his  lords  think 
that  the  great  river  of  Babylon*  was  run  in  the  middle  of 
them,  and  that  they  swam  and  lay  and  sprung  like  ducks,  and 
thus  took  Virgilius  with  him  the  fair  lady  upon  the  bridge  in  the 
air.  And  when  they  were  both  upon  the  bridge,  he  delivered 
the  sultan  from  the  river,  and  all  the  lords,  and  then  they  saw 
Virgilius  carry  away  his  daughter  over  the  sea  upon  a  bridge  in 
the  air,  whereof  he  marvelled  and  was  very  sorry,  and  wist  not 
what  to  do,  for  he  could  not  remedy  it.  And  in  this  manner  did 
he  convey  the  sultan’s  daughter  over  the  sea  to  Rome.  And  Vir¬ 
gilius  was  sore  enamored  of  that  lady.  Then  he  thought  in  his 
mind  how  he  might  marry  her,  and  thought  in  his  mind  to  found 
in  the  midst  of  the  sea  a  fair  town  with  great  lands  belonging  to 
it;  and  so  he  did  by  his  cunning,  and  called  it  Naples  ;  and  the 
foundation  of  it  was  of  eggs.f  And  in  that  town  of  Naples  he 
made  a  tower  with  four  corners,  and  on  the  top  he  set  an  apple 
upon  an  iron  yard  [rod],  and  no  man  could  pull  away  that  apple 
without  he  brake  it ;  and  through  that  iron  set  he  a  bottle,  and  on 
that  bottle  set  he  an  egg ;  and  he  hanged  the  apple  by  the  stalk 
upon  a  chain,  and  so  hangeth  it  still.  And  when  the  egg  stir- 
reth,  so  should  the  town  of  Naples  quake  ;  and  when  the  egg 
brake,  then  should  the  town  sink.  When  he  had  made  an  end, 
he  let  call  it  Naples.  And  in  this  town  he  laid  a  part  of  his 
treasure  that  he  had  therein  ;  and  also  set  therein  his  lover,  the 
fair  lady  the  sultan’s  daughter ;  and  he  gave  to  her  the  town  of 
Naples,  and  all  the  lands  thereto  belonging,  to  her  use  and  her 
children.” 

With  such  a  dower,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  if  the  lady  soon 

*  The  Nile.  The  Babylon  in  which  the  sultans  dwelt  was  old  Cairo,  Babylon 
of  Egypt. 

t  The  foundation  of  the  city  of  Naples  upon  eggs,  and  the  egg  on  which  its  fate 
depended,  seem  to  have  been  legends  generally  current  in  the  middle  ages.  They 
are  said  still  to  exist  among  the  lazzaroni.  By  the  statutes  of  the  order  of  the  saint 
Esprit  au  droit  desir,  instituted  in  1352  (Montfaucon,  Monumens  de  la  Mon.  Fr ,  vol. 
ii  >  P-  329),  a  chapter  of  the  knights  was  appointed  to  be  held  annually  in  custello 
ovi  incantati  in  mirabili  periculo. 


VIRGIL’S  SERPENT. 


77 


found  a  husband,  and  accordingly  Yirgil  gave  her  in  marriage  to 
a  certain  lord  of  Spain,  whose  courage  was  put  to  the  trial  in  de¬ 
fending  the  town  against  the  emperor,  who  had  “  a  great  fantasy” 
to  it,  and  had  brought  a  powerful  army  to  seize  upon  it  by  force. 
But  Yirgil  defeated  him  with  his  enchantments,  and  when  he 
had  secured  the  place  and  driven  the  emperor  away,  “  then  re¬ 
turned  he  again  to  Rome,  and  fetched  his  books  and  other  re¬ 
moveable  goods,  and  brought  them  to  Naples,  and  let  his  good 
alone  that  he  had  shut  in  the  cellar,  and  his  dwelling  he  gave  to 
his  iriends  to  keep,  and  his  dwelling-places,  and  so  departed  to 
Naples.  There  he  made  a  school,  and  gave  thereto  much  lands, 
that  every  scholar  abiding  and  going  to  school  had  land  to  live 
on  of  the  town,  and  they  that  gave  up  the  school  lost  the  land. 
And  there  came  many  from  Toledo  to  school.  And  when  he 
had  ordained  the  town  well  with  scholars,  then  made  he  a  warm 
bath,  that  every  man  might  bathe  him  in  that  would ;  and  that 
bath  is  there  to  this  time,  and  it  was  the  first  bath  that  ever  was. 
And  after  this  he  made  a  bridge,  the  fairest  that  ever  man  saw, 
and  there  might  men  see  all  manner  of  fair  ships  that  belonged 
to  merchandise,  and  all  other  things  of  the  sea.  And  tlje  town 
in  those  days  was  the  fairest  and  noblest  in  all  the  world.  And 
in  this  school  aforesaid  did  Yirgilius  read  [that  is,  lecture  upon] 
the  great  cunning  and  science  of  necromancy,  for  he  was  the 
cunningest  that  ever  was  afore  or  after  in  that  science.  And 
within  short  space  his  wife  died,  and  she  had  never  no  children 
by  him.  And  moreover,  above  all  men  he  loved  scholars,  and 
gave  much  money  to  buy  books  withal.” 

Virgil  seems  now  to  have  been  reconciled  with  the  emperor, 
for  he  made  for  him  a  serpent  of  metal,  to  which  he  gave  such  a 
quality  that  any  one  who  put  his  hand  in  its  mouth  and  swore 
falsely  would  have  it  bitten  off;  but  if  he  swore  the  truth,  he 
would  withdraw  it  uninjured.  At  last  a  woman  accused  of  adul¬ 
tery  deceived  Yirgil  and  his  serpent  by  an  artful  trick,  which  is 
found  repeated  in  Tristan  and  some  others  of  the  medieval  ro¬ 
mances.  She  arranged  that  her  lover  should  be  there  disguised 
as  a  fool,  and  then,  boldly  thrusting  her  hand  into  the  serpent's 
mouth,  she  swore  that  she  had  no  more  sinned  with  the  man 
who  was  accused  of  being  her  paramour  than  with  that  fool. 
Yirgil,  in  anger  against  womankind,  broke  the  serpent  to  pieces. 

Virgil’s  death  was  quite  as  extraordinary  as  his  life.  “  And 
after  this  made  Virgilius  a  goodly  castle,  that  had  but  one  going 
in  thereto,  and  no  man  might  not  enter  in  thereto  but  at  the  one 

7# 


78 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


gate,  or  else  not.  And  also  about  the  same  castle  flowed  there 
a  water,  and  it  was  impossible  for  any  man  there  to  have  any 
entering.  And  this  castle  stood  without  the  city  of  Rome.  And 
this  entering  of  this  gate  was  made  with  twenty-four  iron  flails, 
and  on  every  side  were  there  twelve  men  on  each  side  still  a 
piece  smiting  with  the  flails,  never  ceasing,  the  one  after  the 
other;  and  no  man  might  come  in,  without  the  flails  stood  still, 
but  he  was  slain.  And  these  flails  were  made  with  such  a  gin 
[contrivance]  that  Virgilius  stopped  them  when  he  list  to  enter 
in  thereat,  but  no  man  else  could  find  the  way.  And  in  this 
castle  put  Virgilius  part  of  his  treasure  privily;  and,  when  this 
was  done,  he,  imagined  in  his  mind  by  what  means  he  might 
make  himself  young  again,  because  he  thought  to  live  longer 
many  years,  to  do  many  wonders  and  marvellous  things.  And 
upon  a  time  went  Virgilius  to  the  emperor,  and  asked  him  of 
license  [of  absence]  by  the  space  of  three  weeks.  But  the  em¬ 
peror  in  no  wise  would  grant  it  unto  him,  for  he  would  have 
Virgilins  at  all  times  by  him.  Then  heard  he  that  Virgilius 
went  to  his  house,  and  took  with  him  one  of  his  men  that  he 
above  all  men  trusted  and  knew  well  that  he  would  best  keep 
his  counsel ;  and  they  departed  to  his  castle  that  was  without 
the  town,  and,  when  they  were  afore  the  castle,  there  saw  the 
men  stand  with  iron  flails  in  their  hands  sore  smiting.  Then 
Virgilius  said  to  his  man,  ‘  Enter  you  first  into  the  castle.’  Then 
answered  the  man  and  said,  ‘  If  I  should  enter,  the  flails  would 
slay  me.’  Then  showed  Virgilius  to  the  man  of  each  side  the 
entering  in,  and  all  the  vices  [screws]  that  thereto  belonged  ;  and 
when  he  had  shown  him  all  the  ways,  he  made  cease  the  flails, 
and  went  into  the  castle.  And  when  they  were  both  in,  Virgil¬ 
ius  turned  the  vices  again,  and  so  went  the  iron  flails  as  they 
did  afore.  Then  said  Virgilius,  ‘  My  dear  beloved  friend,  and  he 
that  I  above  all  men  trust,  and  know  most  of  my  secrets ;’  and 
then  let  he  the  man  into  the  cellar,  where  he  had  made  a  fair 
lamp  at  all  seasons  burning.  And  then  said  Virgilius  to  the 
man,  ‘  See  you  the  barrel  that  standeth  here  ?’  And  he  saic^ 
‘Ye  must  put  me  there;  first  ye  must  slay  me,  and  hew  me 
small  to  pieces,  and  cut  my  head  in  four  pieces,  and  salt  the 
head  under  in  the  bottom,  and  then  the  pieces  thereafter,  and 
my  heart  in  the  middle,  and  then  set  the  barrel  under  the  lamp, 
that  night  and  day  therein  may  drop  and  leke  ;  and  ye  shall  nine 
days  long  once  in  the  day  fill  the  lamp,  and  fail  not;  and  when 
this  is  all  done,  then  shall  I  be  renewed  and  made  young  again, 
and  live  long  time  and  many  winters  more,  if  that  it  fortune  me 


VTRGIL’S  DEATH. 


79 


not  to  be  taken  of  above  and  die.’  *  And  when  the  man  heard 
his  master  Virgilius  speak  thus,  he  was  sore  abashed,  and  said, 

‘  That  will  I  never  while  I  live,  for  in  no  manner  will  I  slay  you.’ 
Then  said  Yirgilius,  ‘Ye  at  this  time  must  do  it,  for  it  shall  be 
no  grief  unto  you.’  And  at  last  Yirgilius  entreated  his  man  so 
much,  that  he  consented  to  him  ;  and  then  the  servant  took  Vir¬ 
gilius,  and  slew  him,  and  when  he  was  thus  slain,  he  hewed 
him  in  pieces,  and  salted  him  in  the  barrel,  and  cut  his  head  in 
four  pieces  as  his  master  bade  him,  and  then  put  the  heart  in 
the  middle,  and  salted  them  well  ;  and  when  all  this  was  done, 
he  hung  the  lamp  right  over  the  barrel,  that  it  might  at  all  times 
drop  in  thereto.  And  when  he  had  done  all  this,  he  went  out  of 
the  castle  and  turned  the  vices,  and  then  went  the  copper  men 
smiting  with  their  flails  as  strongly  upon  the  iron  anvils  as  they 
did  before,  that  there  durst  no  man  enter;  and  he  came  every 
day  to  the  castle  and  filled  the  lamp,  as  Virgilius  had  bade  him. 

“  And  as  the  emperor  missed  Virgilius  by  the  space  of  seven 
days,  he  marvelled  greatly  where  he  should  be  become  ;  but 
Virgilius  was  killed  and  laid  in  the  cellar  by  his  servant  that 
he  loved  so  well.  And  then  the  emperor  thought  in  his  mind 
to  ask  Virgilius’s  servant  where  Virgilius  his  master  was;  and  so 
he  did,  for  he  knew  well  that  Virgilius  loved  him  above  all  men 
in  the  world.  Then  answered  the  servant  to  the  emperor,  and 
said,  ‘  Worshipful  lord,  and  it  please  your  grace,  I  wot  not  where 
he  is,  for  it  is  seven  days  past  that  I  saw  him  last ;  and  then 
went  he  forth  I  can  not  tell  whither,  for  he  would  not  let  me  go 
with  him.’  Then  was  the  emperor  angry  with  that  answer,  and 
said,  ‘Thou  liest,  false  thief  that  thou  art;  but  without  thou 
show  me  shortly  where  he  is,  I  shall  put  thee  10  death.’  With 
those  words  was  the  man  abashed,  and  said,  ‘  Worshipful  lord, 
seven  days  ago  I  went  with  him  without  the  town  to  the  castle, 
and  there  he  went  in,  and  there  I  left  him,  for  he  would  not  let 
me  in  with  him.’  Then  said  the  emperor,  ‘  Go  with  me  to  the 
same  castle  ;’  and  so  he  did  ;  and  when  they  .came  afore  the 
castle  and  would  have  entered,  they  might  not,  because  the  flails 
smote  so  fast.  Then  said  the  emperor,  ‘  Make  appease  these 
flails  that  we  may  come  in.’  Then  answered  the  man,  ‘  I  know 
not  the  way.’  Then  said  the  emperor,  ‘  Then  shalt  thou  die.’ 
And  then,  through  the  fear  of  death,  he  turned  the  vices  and 
made  the  flails  stand  still  ;  and  then  the  emperor  entered  into 
the  castle  with  all  his  folk,  and  sought  all  about  in  every  corner 

*  A  similar  mode  of  renovation  occurs  not  unfrequently  in  medieval  tales  and 
legends.  It  seems  to  have  had  its  origin  in  the  classic  story  of  Medea. 


80 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


after  Virgilius,  and  at  the  last  they  sought  so  long  that  they 
came  into  the  cellar  where  they  saw  the  lamp  hang  over  the 
barrel,  where  Virgilius  lay  indeed.  Then  asked  the  emperor 
the  man,  who  had  made  him  so  hardy  to  put  his  master  Virgilius 
so  to  death;  and  the  man  answered  no  word  to  the  emperor. 
And  then  the  emperor,  with  great  anger,  drew  out  his  sword, 
and  slew  he  there  Virgilius’  man.  And  when  all  this  was  done, 
then  saw  the  emperor  and  all  his  folk  a  naked  child,  three  times 
running  about  the  barrel,  saying  the  words,  ‘  Cursed  be  the  time 
that  ye  came  ever  here  !’  And  with  those  words  vanished  the 
child  away,  and  was  never  seen  again  ;  and  thus  abode  Virgil¬ 
ius  in  the  barrel,  dead.  Then  was  the  emperor  very  heavy  for 
the  death  of  Virgilius,  and  also  all  Virgilius’  kindred,  and  also 
all  the  scholars  that  dwelt  about  the  town  of  Naples,  and  in 
especial  the  town  of  Naples,  for  because  that  Virgilius  was  the 
founder  thereof,  and  made  it  of  great  worship.  Then  thought 
the  emperor  to  have  the  goods  and  riches  of  Virgilius  ;  but  there 
were  none  so  hardy  that  durst  come  in  to  fetch  it,  for  fear  of  the 
copper  men  that  smote  so  fast  with  their  iron  flails ;  and  so 
abides  Virgilius’s  treasure  in  the  cellar.” 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  LATER  MEDIEVAL  TYPES  OF  THE  MAGICIAN - FRIAR 

BACON  AND  DR.  FAUSTUS. 

We  have  seen  the  type  of  the  magician  as  it  was  formed  at  an 
early  period,  and  in  a  particular  locality  and  circumstances. 
Virgil  the  enchanter  was  the  creation  of  the  popular  imagination 
to  represent  its  notion  of  the  wonders  of  ancient  science  and  art. 
It  was  the  type  of  the  sorcerer  as  it  arose  out  of  the  wreck  of 
antiquity.  But  the  middle  ages  wanted  a  type  of  its  own  time, 
which  should  represent,  according  to  the  notions  of  the  vulgar, 
the  consciousness  of  that  extraordinary  science  which  was  pro¬ 
ducing  present  wonders.  This  it  soon  found  in  one  of  the  great¬ 
est  of  its  own  scholastics,  the  celebrated  Roger  Bacon. 

So  naturally  was  the  notion  of  magic  connected  with  that  of 
superior  learning  in  the  mind  of  the  multitude,  that  few  of  the 
great  scholars  of  the  middle  ages  escaped  the  imputation.  Prob¬ 
ably  in  their  own  time,  Roger  Bacon,  and  Grosseteste,  and 


FRIAR  BACON. 


81 


others,  enjoyed  the  same  reputation  in  this  respect  as  the  more 
ancient  Gerbert.  This  was  the  case  with  Bacon  especially, 
who  devoted*  himself  so  much  to  practical  science,  and  whose 
chemical  discoveries  (such  as  that  of  gunpowder),  his  optical 
glasses,  and  his  mechanical  contrivances,  were  the  wonder  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  A  few  of  tlie  genuine  traditions  relating 
to  him  are  found  scattered  in  old  writings,  such  as  that  of  the 
brazen  head,  and  others  connected  with  his  glasses.  One  of 
them  tells  us  of  Friar  Bacon’s  (as  he  was  usually  termed)  com¬ 
pact  with  the  evil  one,  and  the  artful  manner  in  which  he  eva¬ 
ded  it.  It  is  said  that  his  agreement  stipulated  that  he  was  to 
belong  to  the  devil  after  his  death,  if  he  died  in  the  church  or 
out  of  it ;  but  the  wily  magician,  when  he  felt  his  end  approach¬ 
ing,  caused  a  cell  to  be  made  in  the  wall  of  the  church,  where 
he  died  and  was  buried,  neither  in  the  church  nor  without,  and 
thus  the  fiend  was  cheated  of  his  prey. 

When,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  study  of  magic  was  pur¬ 
sued  with  increased  zeal,  the  celebrity  of  Friar  Bacon  became 
more  popular,  and  was  spread  wider ;  and  not  only  were  the  tra¬ 
ditions  worked  up  into  a  popular  book,  entitled  “  The  History  of 
Friar  Bacon,”  but  one  of  the  dramatists  of  the  age,  Robert  Greene, 
founded  upon  them  a  play,  which  was  often  acted,  and  of  which 
there  are  several  editions.  The  greater  part  of  the  history  of 
Friar  Bacon,  as  far  as  it  related  to  that  celebrated  personage,  is 
evidently  the  invention  of  the  writer,  who  appears  to  have  lived 
in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  he  adopted  some  of  the  older 
traditions,  and  filled  up  his  narrative  with  fables  taken  from  the 
common  story-books  of  the  age.  We  are  here  first  made  ac¬ 
quainted  with  two  other  legendary  conjurers,  Friars  Bungay 
and  Vandermast ;  and  the  recital  is  enlivened  with  the  pranks  of 
Bacon’s  servant  Miles. 

According  to  this  legendary  history,  Roger  Bacon  Avas  the  son 
of  a  wealthy  farmer  in  the  west  of  England,  who  had  placed  his 
son  with  the  parish  priest  to  gain  a  little  scholarship.  The  boy 
soon  showed  an  extraordinary  ability  for  learning,  which  was  en¬ 
couraged  by  the  priest,  but  which  was  extremely  disagreeable  to 
the  father,  who  intended  him  for  no  other  profession  but  that  of 
the  plough.  Young  Bacon  fled  from  home,  and  took  shelter  in  a 
monastery,  where  he  followed  his  studies  to  his  heart’s  content, 
and  was  eventually  sent  to  complete  them  at  Oxford.  There  he 
made  himself  a  proficient  in  the  occult  sciences,  and  attained  to 
the  highest  proficiency  in  magic.  At  length  he  had  an  opportu¬ 
nity  of  exhibiting  his  skill  before  the  court,  and  the  account  of 


82 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


his  exploits  on  this  occasion  may  be  given  as  a  sample  of  the 
style  of  this  quaint  old  history. 

“  The  king  being  in  Oxfordshire  at  a  nobleman’s  house,  was 
very  desirous  to  see  this  famous  friar,  for  he  had  heard  many 
times  of  his  wondrous  things  that  he  had  done  by  his  art,  there¬ 
fore  he  sent  one  for  him  to  desire  him  to  come  to  the  court. 
Friar  Bacon  kindly  thanked  the  king  by  the  messenger,  and  said 
that  he  was  at  the  king’s  service,  and  would  suddenly  attend 
him ;  ‘  but,  sir,’  saith  he  to  the  gentleman,  ‘  I  pray  make  you  haste, 
or  else  I  shall  be  two  hours  before  you  at  the  court.’ — ‘  For  all 
your  learning,’  answered  the  gentleman,  ‘  I  can  hardly  believe 
this,  for  scholars,  old  men,  and  travellers,  may  lie  by  authority.’ 
‘  To  strengthen  your  belief,’  said  Friar  Bacon,  ‘  I  could  presently 
show  you  the  last  wench  that  you  were  withal,  but  I  will  not  at 
this  time.’ — ‘  One  is  as  true  as  the  other,’  said  the  gentleman, 
‘and  I  would  laugh  to  see  either.’ — ‘You  shall  see  them  both 
within  these  four  hours,’  quoth  the  friar,  ‘  and  therefore  make 
what  haste  you  can.’  ‘  I  wdl  prevent  that  by  my  speed,’  said  the 
gentleman,  and  with  that  he  rid  his  way ;  but  he  rode  out  of  his 
way,  as  it  should  seem,  for  he  had  but  five  miles  to  ride,  and  yet 
was  he  better  than  three  hours  a  riding  them,  so  that  Friar  Bacon 
by  his  art  was  with  the  king  before  he  came. 

“  The  king  kindly  welcomed  him,  and  said  that  he  long  time 
had  desired  to  see  him,  for  he  had  as  yet  not  heard  of  his  like. 
Friar  Bacon  answered  him,  that  fame  had  belied  him,  and  given 
him  that  report  that  his  poor  studies  had  never  deserved,  for  he 
believed  that  art  had  many  sons  more  excellent  than  himself 
was.  The  king  commended  him  for  his  modesty,  and  told  him 
that  nothing  could  become  a  wise  man  less  than  boasting :  but 
yet  withal  he  requested  him  now  to  be  no  niggard  of  his  knowl¬ 
edge,  but  to  show  his  queen  and  him  some  of  his  skill.  ‘  I  were 
worthy  of  neither  art  nor  knowledge,’  quoth  Friar  Bacon,  ‘  should 
I  deny  your  majesty  this  small  request;  I  pray  seat  yourselves, 
and  you  shall  see  presently  what  my  poor  skill  can  perform.’ 
The  king,  queen,  and  nobles,  sat  them  all  down.  They  having 
so  done,  the  friar  waved  his  wand,  and  presently  was  heard 
such  excellent  music,  that  they  were  all  amazed,  for  they  all 
said  they  had  never  heard  the  like.  ‘  This  is,’  said  the  friar, 

‘ t0  delight  the  sense  of  hearing, — I  will  delight  all  your  other 
senses  ere  you  depart  hence.’  So  waving  his  wand  again,  there 
was  louder  music  heard,  and  presently  five  dancers  entered,  the 
first  like  a  court  laundress,  the  second  like  a  footman,  the  third 
like  a  usurer,  the  fourth  like  a  prodigal,  the  fifth  like  a  fool. 


BACON  AT  COURT. 


83 


These  did  divers  excellent  changes,  so  that  they  gave  content  to 
all  the  beholders,  and  having  done  their  dance  they  all  vanished 
away  in  their  order  as  they  came  in.  Thus  feasted  he  two  of 
their  senses.  Then  waved  he  his  wand  again,  and  there  was 
another  kiud  of  music  heard,  and  while  it  was  playing,  there 
was  suddenly  before  them  a  table,  richly  covered  with  all  sorts 
of  delicacies.  Then  desired  he  the  king  and  queen  to  taste  of 
some  certain  rare  fruits  that  were  on  the  table,  which  they  and 
the  nobles  there  present  did,  and  were  very  highly  pleased  with 
the  taste  ;  they  being  satisfied,  all  vanished  away  on  the  sudden. 
Then  waved  he  his  wand  again,  and  suddenly  there  was  such  a 
smell,  as  if  all  the  rich  perfumes  in  the  whole  world  had  been 
then  prepared  in  the  best  manner  that  art  could  set  them  out. 
While  he  feasted  thus  their  smelling,  he  waved  his  wa.nd  again, 
and  there  came  divers  nations  in  sundry  habits,  as  Russians,  Po- 
landers,  Indians,  Armenians,  all  bringing  sundry  kinds  of  iurs, 
such  as  their  countries  yielded,  all  which  they  presented  to  the 
king  and  queen.  These  furs  were  so  soft  to  the  touch,  that 
they  highly  pleased  all  those  that  handled  them.  Then,  after 
some  odd  fantastic  dances,  after  their  country  manner,  they  van¬ 
ished  away.  Then  asked  Friar  Bacon  the  king’s  majesty  if  that 
he  desired'  any  more  of  his  skill.  The  king  answered  that  he 
was  fully  satisfied  for  that  time,  and  that  he  only  now  thought  of 
something  that  he  might  bestow  on  him,  that  might  partly  satisfy 
the  kindness  that  he  had  received.  Friar  Bacon  said  that  he 
desired  nothing  so  much  as  his  majesty’s  love,  and  it  that  he 
might  be  assured  of  that,  he  would  think  himselt  happy  in  it. 
‘  For  that,’  said  the  king,  ‘be  thou  ever  sure  of  it,  in  token  of 
which  receive  this  jewel,’  and  withal  gave  him  a  costly  jewel 
from  his  neck.  The  friar  did  with  great  reverence  thank  his 
majesty,  and  said,  ‘  As  your  majesty’s  vassal  you  shall  ever  find 
me  ready  to  do  you  service  ;  your  time  of  need  shall  find  it  both 
beneficial  and  delightful.  But  among  all  these  gentlemen  I 
see  not  the  man  that  your  grace  did  send  for  me  by  ;  sure  he 
hath  lost  his  way,  or  else  met  with  some  sport  that  detains  him 
so  long ;  I  promised  to  be  here  before  him,  and  all  this  noble  as¬ 
sembly  can  witness  1  am  as  good  as  my  word — I  hear  him 
coming.’  With  that  entered  the  gentleman,  all  bedirted,  for  he 
had  rid  through  ditches,  quagmires,  plashes,  and  waters,  that  he 
was  in  a  most  pitiful  case.  He,  seeing  the  friar  there,  looked 
full  angrily,  and  bid  a  plague  on  all  his  devils,  for  they  had  led 
him  out  of  his  way,  and  almost  drowned  him.  ‘  Be  not  angry, 
sir,’  said  Friar  Bacon,  ‘  here  is  an  old  friend  of  yours  that  hath 


84 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


more  cause,  for  she  hath  tarried  these  three  hours  for  you’ — 
with  that  he  pulled  up  the  hangings,  and  behind  them  stood  a 
kitchen-maid  with  a  basting-ladle  in  her  hand — ‘  now  am  I  as 
good  as  my  word  with  you  ?  for  I  promised  to  help  you  to  your 
sweetheart — how  do  you  like  this  V — ‘  So  ill,’ answered  the  gen¬ 
tleman,  ‘that  1  will  be  revenged  of  you.’ — ‘  Threaten  not,’  said 
Friar  Bacon,  ‘  lest  I  do  you  more  shame,  and  do  you  take  heed 
how  you  give  scholars  the  lie  again  ;  but  because  I  know  not 
how  well  you  are  stored  with  money  at  this  time,  I  will  bear 
your  wench’s  charges  home  ’  With  that  she  vanished  away.” 

This  may  be  taken  as  a  sort  of  exemplification  of  the  class  of 
exhibitions  which  were  probably  the  result  of  superior  knowl¬ 
edge  of  natural  science,  and  which  were  exaggerated  by  popu¬ 
lar  imagination.  They  had  been  made,  to  a  certain  degree, 
familiar  by  the  performances  of  the  skilful  jugglers  who  came 
from  the  East,  and  who  were  scattered  throughout  Europe  ;  and 
we  read  not  unfrequently  of  such  magical  feats  in  old  writers. 
When  the  emperor  Charles  IV.  was  married  in  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century  to  the  Bavarian  princess  Sophia  in  the 
city  of  Prague,  the  father  of  the  princess  brought  a  wagon-load 
of  magicians  to  assist  in  the  festivities.  Two  of  the  chief  pro¬ 
ficients  in  the  art,  Zytho  the  great  Bohemian  sorcerer,  and 
Gouin  the  Bavarian,  were  pitched  against  each  other,  and  we 
are  told  that  after  a  desperate  trial  of  skill,  Zytho,  opening  his 
jaws  from  ear  to  ear,  ate  up  his  rival  without  stopping  till  he 
came  to  his  shoes,  which  he  spit  out,  because,  as  he  said,  they 
had  not  been  cleaned.  After  having  performed  this  strange  feat, 
he  restored  the  unhappy  sorcerer  to  life  again.  The  idea  of 
contests  like  this  seems  to  have  been  taken  from  the  scriptural 
narrative  of  the  contention  of  the  Egyptian  magicians  against 
Moses. 

We  must  run  through  Friar  Bacon’s  other  exploits  more  brief¬ 
ly.  As  I  have  said,  the  greater  number  of  them  are  mere  adap¬ 
tations  of  medieval  stories  ;  but  they  show  nevertheless,  what  was 
the  popular  notion  of  the  magician’s  character.  Such  is  the 
story  of  the  gentleman  who,  reduced  to  poverty  and  involved  in 
debt,  sold  himself  to  the  evil  one,  on  condition  that  he  was  to 
deliver  himself  up  as  soon  as  his  debts  were  paid.  As  may  be 
imagined  without  much  difficulty,  he  was  not  in  haste  to  satisfy 
his  creditors,  but  at  length  the  time  came  when  he  could  put 
them  off  no  longer,  and  then,  in  his  despair,  he  would  have  com¬ 
mitted  violence  on  himself  had  not  his  hand  been  arrested  by 
Bacon.  The  latter,  when  he  had  heard  the  gentleman’s  story, 


THE  DEVIL  OUTWITTED. 


85 


directed  him  to  repair  to  the  place  appointed  for  his  meeting 
with  the  evil  one,  to  deny  the  devil’s  claim,  and  to  refer  for  judg¬ 
ment  to  the  first  person  who  should  pass.  “  In  the  morning,  af¬ 
ter  that  he  had  blessed  himself,  he  went  to  the  wood,  where  he 
found  the  devil  ready  for  him.  So  soon  as  he  came  near,  the 
devil  said :  ‘  Now,  deceiver,  are  you  come  ?  Now  shall  thou 
see  that  I  can  and  will  prove  that  thou  hast  paid  all  thy  debts, 
and  therefore  thy  soul  belongest  to  me.’ — ‘  Thou  art  a  deceiver,’ 
said  the  gentleman,  ‘  and  gavest  me  money  to  cheat  me  of  my  soul, 
for  else  why  wilt  thou  be  thine  own  judge  ? — let  me  have  some 
others  to  judge  between  us.’ — ‘  Content,’  said  the  devil,  ‘  take 
whom  thou  wilt.’ — ‘  Then  I  will  have,’  said  the  gentleman,  ‘  the 
next  man  that  cometli  this  way.’  Hereto  the  devil  agreed.  No 
sooner  were  these  words  ended,  but  Friar  Bacon  came  by,  to 
whom  this  gentleman  spoke,  and  requested  that  he  would  be 
judge  in  a  weighty  matter  between  them  two.  The  friar  said  he 
was  content,  so  both  parties  were  agreed  :  the  devil  said  they 
were,  and  told  Friar  Bacon  how  the  case  stood  between  them  in 
this  manner.  ‘  Know,  friar,  that  I,  seeing  this  prodigal  like  to 
starve  for  want  of  food,  lent  him  money,  not  only  to  buy  him  vic¬ 
tuals,  but  also  to  redeem  his  lands  and  pay  his  debts,  condition¬ 
ally,  that  so  soon  as  his  debts  were  paid,  that  he  should  give  him¬ 
self  freely  to  me  ;  to  this,  here  is  his  hand,’  showing  him  the 
bond  :  ‘  now  my  time  is  expired,  for  all  his  debts  are  paid,  which 
he  can  not  deny.’ — ‘  This  case  is  plain,  if  it  be  so  that  his  debts 
are  paid.’ — ‘  His  silence  confirms  it,’  said  the  devil,  ‘  therefore 
give  him  a  just  sentence.’ — ‘  I  will,’  said  Friar  Bacon  ;  ‘but  first 
tell  me’ — speaking  to  the  gentleman — ‘  didst  thou  never  yet  give 
the  devil  any  of  his  money  back,  nor  requite  him  in  any  ways  V 
— ‘Never  had  he  anything  of  me  as  yet,’  answered  the  gentle¬ 
man.  ‘  Then  never  let  him  have  anything  of  thee,  and  thou  art 
free.  Deceiver  of  mankind,’  said  he,  speaking  to  the  devil,  ‘  it 
was  thy  bargain  never  to  meddle  with  him  so  long  as  he  was  in¬ 
debted  to  anyr ;  now,  how  canst  thou  demand  of  him  anything 
when  he  is  indebted  for  all  that  he  hath  to  thee  ?  when  he  pay- 
eth  thee  thy  money,  then  take  him  as  thy  due  ;  till  then  thou  hast 
nothing  to  do  with  him,  and  so  I  charge  thee  to  be  gone.’  At 
this  the  devil  vanished  with  great  horror,  but  Friar  Bacon  com¬ 
forted  the  gentleman,  and  sent  him  home  with  a  quiet  conscience, 
bidding  him 'never  to  pay  the  devil’s  money  back,  as  he  tendered 
his  own  safety.” 

Bacon  now  met  with  a  companion,  Friar  Bungay,  whose  tastes 
and  pursuits  were  congenial  to  his  own,  and  with  his  assistance 

8 


6  G 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


he  undertook  the  exploit  for  which  he  was  most  famous.  He  had 
a  fancy  that  he  would  defend  England  against  its  enemies,  by 
walling  it  with  brass,  preparatory  to  which  they  made  a  head  of 
that  metal.  Their  intent  was  to  make  the  head  speak,  for  wrhich 
purpose  they  raised  a  spirit  in  a  wood,  by  whose  directions  they 
made  a  fumigation,  to  which  the  head  was  to  be  exposed  during 
a  month,  and  to  be  carefully  watched,  because  if  the  two  friars 
did  not  hear  it  before  it  had  given  over  speaking,  their  labor 
would  be  lost.  Accordingly,  the  care  of  watching  over  the  head 
while  they  slept  was  intrusted  to  Bacon’s  man,  Miles.  The  pe¬ 
riod  of  speaking  unfortunately  came  while  Miles  was  watching. 
The  head  suddenly  uttered  the  two  words  “  Time  is.”  Miles 
thought  it  was  unnecessary  to  disturb  his  master  for  such  a  brief 
speech,  and  sat  still.  In  half  an  hour,  the  head  again  broke  si¬ 
lence  with  the  words,  “  Time  was.”  Still  Miles  waited,  until, 
in  another  half  hour,  the  head  said,  “  Time  is  past,”  and  fell  to 
the  ground  with  a  terrible  noi'se.  Thus,  through  the  negligenco 
of  Miles,  the  labor  of  the  two  friars  was  thrown  away. 

The  king  soon  wanted  Friar  Bacon’s  services,  and  the  latter  en¬ 
abled  him,  by  his  perspective  and  burning-glasses,  to  take  a  town 
which  he  was  besieging.  In  consequence  of  this  success,  the 
kings  of  England  and  France  made  peace,  and  a  grand  court  was 
held,  at  which  the  German  conjurer,  Vandermast,  was  brought  to 
try  his  skill  against  Bacon.  Their  performances  were  some¬ 
thing  in  the  style  of  Bacon’s  former  exhibition  before  the  king 
and  queen.  Vandermast,  in  revenge,  sent  a  soldier  to  kill  Bacon, 
but  in  vain.  Next  follow  a  series  of  adventures  which  consist 
of  a  few  medieval  stories  very  clumsily  put  together,  among  which 
are  that  known  as  the  Friar  and  the  Boy,  the  one  which  appeared 
in  Scottish  verse,  under  the  title  of  the  Friars  of  Berwick,  a  tale 
taken  from  the  Gesta  Romanorum,  and  some  others.  A  contention 
in  magic  between  Vandermast  and  Bungay  ended  in  the  deaths 
of  both.  The  servant  Miles  next  turned  conjurer,  having  got 
hold  of  one  of  Bacon’s  books,  and  escaped  with  a  dreadful  fright  and 
a  broken  leg.  Everything  now  seemed  to  go  wrong.  Friar  Bacon 
“had  a  glass  which  was  of  that  excellent  nature,  that  any  man 
might  behold  anything  that  he  desired  to  see  within  the  compass  of 
fifty  miles  round  about  him.”  In  this  glass  he  used  to  show  people 
what  their  relations  and  friends  were  doing,  or  where  they  were, 
One  day,  two  young  gentlemen  of  high  birth  came  to  look  into 
the  glass,  and  they  beheld  their  fathers  desperately  fighting  to¬ 
gether,  upon  which  they  drew  their  swords  and  slew  each  other. 
Bacon  was  so  shocked  that  he  broke  his  glass  in  disgust,  and 


DR.  FAUSTUS. 


87 


hearing  about  the  same  time  of  the  deaths  of  Vandermast  and 
Bungay,  he  became  melancholy,  and  at  length" he  burnt  his  books 
of  magic,  distributed  his  wealth  among  poor  scholars  and  others, 
and  became  an  anchorite.  Thus  ended  the  life  of  Friar  Bacon, 
according  to  “the  famous  history,”  which  probably  owed  most 
of  its  incidents  to  the  imagination  of  the  writer. 

The  character  of  Dr.  Faustus  seems,  as  a  magician,  to  be  more 
veritable  than  that  of  Friar  Bacon.  His  history,  which  was 
transferred  to  English  literature  direct  from  the  German,  ap¬ 
peared  in  England  about  the  same  time.  There  appears,  in  fact, 
to  have  lived  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  great 
magician  and  conjuror  of  the  name  of  Faust,  or  Latinized,  Faus¬ 
tus,  a  native  of  Kundling,  in  the  duchy  of  Wirtemberg,  whose 
celebrity  gave  rise  to  the  book  entitled  “  The  History  of  the  Life 
and  Death  of  Dr.  Faustus,”  which  became  so  popular  in  Eng¬ 
land,  that  it  was  brought  on  the  stage  by  one  of  the  best  dramatists 
of  the  Elizabethan  age,  Greene,  and  went  into  a  proverb  in  our  lan¬ 
guage,  and  has  been  embodied  in  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
productions«of  the*literature  of  our  age,  the  Faust  of  Goethe. 

Still  we  must  look  upon  Dr.  Faustus  as  one  of  the  types  only 
of  the  art,  for  we  have  no  authentic  account  of  what  he  did  per¬ 
form.  The  book  consists,  like  the  histories  of  Virgil  and  Bacon, 
of  a  mere  collection  of  stories  of  magic  and  incantation,  many 
of  them  probably  invented  for  the  occasion,  and  all  of  them  fa¬ 
thered  upon  one  personage,  whose  name  had  become  sufficiently 
notorious  for  the  purpose.  According  to  this  history,  Faustus  was 
the  son  of  a  German  boor,  and  being  remarkable  for  his  early 
talents,  was  adopted  by  a  rich  uncle  at  Wittenburg,  who  enabled 
him  to  pursue  his  studies  at  a  celebrated  university  in  that  city. 
The  inclinations  of  Faustus  led  him  into  the  forbidden  paths  of 
science,  and  at  length  he  became  such  a  proficient  in  magic  that 
he  determined  to  call  up  the  demon.  So  “  taking  his  way  to  a 
thick  wood  near  to  Wittenburg,  called  in  the  German  tongue 
Spisserholt,  he  came  into  the  wood  one  evening  into  the  cross¬ 
way,  where  he  made  with  a  wand  a  circle  in  the  dust,  and  within 
that  many  more  circles  and  characters  ;  and  thus  he  passed  away 
the  time  until  it  was  nine  or  ten  of  the  clock  in  the  night ;  then  be¬ 
gan  Dr.  Faustus  to  call  on  Mephistophiles  the  spirit,  and  to  charge 
him  in  the  name  of  Beelzebub  to  appear  there  presently,  without 
any  long  stay.  Then  presently  the  devil  began  so  great  a  rumor 
in  the  wood,  as  if  heaven  and  earth  would  have  come  together, 
with  wind,  and  the  trees  bowed  their  tops  to  the  ground.  Then 
fell  the  devil  to  roar,  as  if  the  whole  wood  had  been  full  of  lions 


88 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  suddenly  about  the  circle  run  the  devil,  as  if  a  thousand  wag¬ 
ons  had  been  runfling  together  on  paved  stones.  After  this,  at 
the  four  corners  of  the  wood  it  thundered  horribly,  with  such 
lightning  as  if  the  whole  world  to  his  seeming  had  been  on  fire. 
Faustus  all  this  while,  half  amazed  at  the  devil’s  so  long  tarry¬ 
ing,  and  doubting  whether  he  were  best  to  abide  any  more  such 
horrible  conjurings,  thought  to  leave  his  circle  and  depart,  where¬ 
upon  the  devil. made  him  such  music  of  all  sorts,  as  if  the  nymphs 
themselves  had  been  in  the  place.  Whereat  Faustus  revived, 
and  stood  stoutly  in  the  circle,  expecting  his  purpose,  and  began 
again  to  conjure  the  spirit  Mephistophiles  in  the  name  of  the 
prince  of  devils,  to  appear  in  his  likeness  ;  whereat  suddenly 
over  his  head  hung  hovering  in  the  air  a  mighty  dragon.  Then 
calls  Faustus  again  after  his  devilish  manner;  at  which  there 
was  a  monstrous  cry  in  the  wood,  as  if  hell  had  been  open,  and 
all  the  tormented  souls  cursing  their  condition.  Presently,  not 
three  fathoms  above  his  head,  fell  a  flame  in  manner  of  lightning, 
and  changed  itself  into  a  globe  ;  yet  Faustus  feared  it  not,  but 
did  persuade  himself  that  the  devil  should  gitfe  him, his  request 
before  he  would  leave.  Then  Faustus,  vexed  at  his  spirit’s  so 
long  tarrying,  used  his  charm,  with  full  purpose  not  to  depart  be¬ 
fore  he  had  his  intent ;  and  crying  on  Mephistophiles  the  spirit, 
suddenly  the  globe  opened,  and  sprung  up  in  the  height  of  a  man  ; 
so,  burning  a  time,  in  the  end  it  converted  to  the  shape  of  a  fiery 
man.  This  pleasant  beast  ran  about  the  circle  a  great  while, 
and  lastly,  appeared  in  the  manner  of  a  gray  friar,  asking  Faus¬ 
tus  what  was  his  request.  Faustus  commanded,  that  the  next 
morning  at  twelve  of  the  clock  he  should  appear  to  him  at  his 
house  ;  but  the  devil  would  in  no  wise  grant  it.  Faustus  began 
to  conjure  him  again,  in  the  name  of  Beelzebub,  that  he  should 
fulfil  his  request ;  whereupon  the  spirit  agreed,  and  so  they  de¬ 
parted  each  on  his  way.” 

The  spirit  accordingly  visited  Faustus,  and  after  three  inter¬ 
views,  they  came  to  an  agreement,  by  which  the  doctor,  as  the 
price  of  his  soul,  was  to  have  Mephistophiles  for  his  servant, 
and  have  a  certain  allotment  of  life,  during  which  he  would  have 
the  full  gratification  of  bis  power  in  everything.  One  of  the  first 
uses  which  Faustus  made  of  the  power  he  had  now  obtained 
was  to  gratify  his  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  by  the  aid  of 
his  spirit  Mephistophiles,  he  soon  surpassed  all  others  in  the 
knowledge  of  hidden  causes.  All  his  desires  were  fulfilled  the 
instant  they  were  formed,  so  that  he  lived  a  life  of  unrestrained 
gratification.  He  travelled  with  inconceivable  rapidity,  not  only 


FAUSTUS  AND  THE  JUGGLERS. 


89 


through  different  countries,  but  into  the  remotest  regions  of  the 
air,  and  even  into  hell,  and  thus  he  became  a  profound  astrono¬ 
mer,  and  was. initiated  in  some  measure  into  the  secrets  of  the 
other  world.  He  now  “  fell  to  be  a  calendar-maker  by  the  help 
of  his  spirit,”  and  nobody’s  prognostications  were  equal  to  those 
of  Dr.  Faustus.  His  travels  were  so  extensive,  that  he  even  ob¬ 
tained  a  glimpse  of  Paradise  ;  and  in  the  course  of  his  wander¬ 
ings  he  played  all  sorts  of  pranks.  Among  other  victims  of  his 
wantonness  were  the  Grand  Turk  and  the  pope  of  Rome. 

When  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  we  are  told,  was  holding  his 
court  at  Inspruck,  he  invited  Faustus  to  make  an  exhibition  of 
his  skill,  and  to  gratify  him  he  raised  up  the  spirits  of  Alexan¬ 
der  the  Great  and  his  beautiful  paramour,  to  the  emperor’s  no 
small  delight.  Some  of  the  courtiers  having  provoked  him,  he 
transformed  them,  and  exposed  them  to  the  ridicule. of  their  com¬ 
panions.  After  leaving  the  court,  he  performed  a  variety  of 
tricks  upon  persons  of  all  conditions,  whom  he  met  on  his  way. 
He  pawned  his  leg  to  a  Jew  for  money.  At  the  fair  of  Pfeiffeng, 
he  sold  a  horse  to  a  horse-dealer,  with  a  warning  not  to  ride 
through  a  course  of  water  with  it ;  but  the  dealer,  having  dis¬ 
obeyed  these  directions,  found  himself  suddenly  sitting  astride  a 
bottle  of  straw.  He  alarmed  a  countryman  by  eating  a  load  of 
hay ;  and  wherever  he  found  students  or  clowns  drinking  to¬ 
gether,  he  seldom  failed  to  make  them  victims  of  his  art.  He 
subsequently  performed  extraordinary  exploits  at  the  court  of  the 
duke  of  Anhalt  ;  and  he  gave  equally  extraordinary  specimens 
of  his  power  in  a  series  of  extravagant  feats  with  which  he 
treated  the  students  of  Wittenburg,  and  which  he  ended  by  call¬ 
ing  up  to  their  sight  the  fair  Helen  of  Troy. 

“  Dr.  Faustus  came  in  Lent  unto  Frankland  fair,  where  his 
spirit  Mephistophiles  gave  him  to  understand  that  in  an  inn  were 
lour  jugglers  that  cut  one  another’s  heads  off,  and  after  their  cut¬ 
ting  off  sent  them  to  the  barber  to  be  trimmed,  which  many  peo¬ 
ple  saw.  This  angered  Faustus,  for  he  meant  to  have  himself 
the  only  cook  in  the  devil’s  banquet,  and  he  went  to  the  place 
where  they  were  to  beguile  them.  And  as  the  jugglers  were 
together,  ready  one  to  cut  off  another’s  head,  there  stood  also  the 
barber  ready  to  trim  them,  and  by  them  upon  the  table  stood  like¬ 
wise  a  glass  full  of  stilled  waters,  and  he  that  was  the  cliiefest 
among  them  stood  by  it.  Thus  they  began  :  they  smote  off  the 
head  of  the  first,  and  presently  there  was  a  lily  in  the  glass  of 
distilled  water,  where  Faustus  perceived  this  lily  as  it  was 
springing  up,  and  the  chief  juggler  named  it  the  tree  of  life. 

8* 


90 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Thus  dealt  he  with  the  first,  making  the  barber  wash  and  comb 
his  head,  and  then  he  set  it  on  again  ;  presently  the  lily  vanished 
away  out  of  the  water  ;  hereat  the  man  had  his  head  whole  and 
sound  again.  The  like  did  he  with  the  other  two  ;  and  as  the 
turn  and  lot  came  to  the  chief  juggler,  that  he  also  should  be  be¬ 
headed,  and  that  his  lily  was  most  pleasant,  fair,  and  flourishing 
green,  they  smote  his  head  off,  and  when  it  came  to  be  barbed 
[that  is,  shaved],  it  troubled  Faustus  his  conscience,  insomuch 
that  he  could  not  abide  to  see  another  do  anything,  for  he  thought 
himself  to  be  the  principal  conjurer  in  the  world  ;  wherefore  Dr. 
Faustus  went  to  the  table  whereat  the  other  jugglers  kept  that 
lily,  and  so  he  took  a  small  knife  and  cut  off  the  stalk  of  the 
lily,  saying  to  himself,  ‘  None  of  them  shall  blind  Faustus.’  Yet 
no  man  saw  Faustus  to  cut  the  lily  ;  but  when  the  rest  of  the 
jugglers  thought  to  have  set  on  their  master’s  head,  they  could 
not;  wherefore  they  looked  on  the  lily,  and  found  it  bleeding. 
By  this  means  the  juggler  was  beguiled,  and  so  died  in  his  wick¬ 
edness  ;  yet  no  one  thought  that  Dr.  Faustus  had  done  it.” 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Faustus  had  a  fit  of  repentance,  for 
which  he  was  severely  rebuked  by  his  spirit  Mephistophiles, 
who  forced  him  to  sign  a  new  bond  with  the  evil  one.  From 
this  time  he  became  more  headstrong  and  depraved  than  ever, 
and,  to  use  the  words  of  the  history,  “  he  began  to  live  a  swinish 
and  Epicurean  life.”  He  now  caused  Mephistophiles  to  bring 
him  the  fair  Helen  of  Troy,  with  whom  he  fell  violently  in  love, 
and  kept  her  during  the  rest  of  his  life  as  his  mistress  ;  but  she, 
and  a  child  she  bore  him,  vanished  together  on  his  death.  This 
was  not  long  in  approaching,  and  when  his  last  day  was  at  hand, 
he  invited  his  fellow-students  to  a  supper,  and  gave  them  a  moral 
discourse  on  his  own  errors,  and  an  urgent  warning  to  avoid  his 
example.  “  The  students  and  the  others  that  were  there,  when 
they  had  prayed  for  him,  they  wept,  and  so  went  forth;  but 
Faustus  tarried  in  the  hall;  and  when  the  gentlemen  were  laid 
in  bed,  none  of  them  could  sleep,  for  that  they  attended  to  hear 
if  they  might  be  privy  of  his  end.  It  happened  that  between 
twelve  and  one  o’clock  at  midnight  there  blew  a  mighty  storm 
of  wind  against  the  house,  as  though  it  would  have  blown  the 
foundation  thereof  out  of  its  place.  Hereupon  the  students  be¬ 
gan  to  fear,  and  go  out  of  their  beds,  but  they  would  not  stir  out 
of  the  chamber,  and  the  host  of  the  house  ran  out  of  doors,  think¬ 
ing  the  house  would  fall.  The  students  lay  near  unto  the  hall 
wherein  Dr.  Faustus  lay,  and  they  heard  a  mighty  noise  and 
hissing,  as  if  the  hall  had  been  full  of  snakes  and  adders.  With 


DEATH  OF  DR.  FAUSTUS. 


91 


that  the  hall-door  flew  open  wherein  Dr.  Faustus  was  ;  then  he 
began  to  cry  for  help,  saying,  ‘  Murther !  murther !’  but  it  was 
with  a  half  voice  and  very  hollow  ;  shortly  after  they  heard  him 
no  more.  But  when  it  was  day,  the  students,  that  had  taken  no 
rest  that  night,  arose  and  went  into  the  hall  in  the  which  they 
left  Dr.  Faustus,  where,  notwithstanding,  they  found  not  Faustus, 
but  all  the  hall  sprinkled  with  blood,  the  brains  cleaving  to  the 
wall,  for  the  devil  had  beaten  him  from  one  wall  against  another  ; 
in  one  corner  lay  his  eyes,  in  another  his  teeth  ;  a  fearful  and 
pitiful  sight  to  behold.  Then  began  the  students  to  wail  and 
weep  for  him,  and  sought  for  his  body  in  many  places.  Lastly, 
they  came  into  the  yard,  where  they  found  his  body  lying  on  the 
horse-dung,  most  monstrously  torn,  and  fearful  to  behold,  for  his 
head  and  all  his  joints  were  dashed  to  pieces.  The  forenamed 
students  and  masters  that  were  at  his  death,  obtained  so  much 
that  they  buried  him  in  the  village  where  he  was  so  grievously 
tormented.” 

Such  was  the  end  which  it  was  believed  awaited  the  magi¬ 
cians  who  entered  into  a  direct  compact  with  the  evil  one.  The 
history  of  Dr.  Faustus  has  been  the  delight  and  wonder  of  thou¬ 
sands  in  various  countries  and  through  several  ages.  The  pop¬ 
ularity  of  the  book  was  so  great,  that  another  author  undertook 
to  compile  a  continuation.  Faustus,  it  was  pretended,  had  left 
^  familiar  servant,  named  Christopher  Wagner,  with  whom  he 
had  deposited  his  greatest  secrets,  and  to  whom  he  had  left  his 
books  and  his  art.  The  exploits  of  Wagner  form  what  is  called 
the  second  part  of  Dr.  Faustus,  which  seems  to  have  been  com¬ 
piled  in  England,  and  was  published  long  subsequent  to  the  first 
part.  Wagner  is  made  to  call  up  the  spirit  of  his  master  Faus¬ 
tus,  and  compel  him  to  serve  as  his  familiar.  The  book  contains 
a  repetition  of  the  same  descriptions  of  exorcisms  which  had 
been  used  by  Faustus  toward  Mephistophiles,  and  of  similar 
exploits. 

The  foregoing  are  types  of  the  popular  belief  during  many  cen¬ 
turies.  They  picture  to  us  the  notion  of  the  magician  as  it  ex¬ 
isted  in  people’s  imagination.  We  must  now  return  to  the  reality 
of  these  superstitions,  as  it  is  presented  to  us  by  the  history  of 
past  ages. 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SORCERY  IN  GERMANY  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY;  THE 
MALLEUS  MALEFIC  ARUM. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  inquisition,  and  the  practice  of 
drawing  the  crime  of  sorcery  under  its  jurisdiction,  the  belief  in 
its  effects  was  becoming  more  intense,  and  was  spreading  more 
widely.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the  holy  inquisition  had  grad¬ 
ually  formed  the  witchcraft  legends  into  a  regular  system,  and 
when  published  under  such  authority  few  would  venture  to  dis¬ 
believe  it.  It  was  in  Germany,  indeed,  that  the  belief  in  witch¬ 
craft  seems  to  have  first  taken  that  dark,  systematical  form  which 
held  so  fearful  a  sway  over  men’s  minds  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries.  There  the  wilder  superstitions  of  the 
ancient  Teutonic  creed  have  been  preserved  in  greater  force  than 
in  any  other  part  of  Europe.  The  pious  legends  of  Caesarius  of 
Heisterbacli,  who  flourished  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  are  little  better  than  a  mass  of  stories  of  magic  and 
sorcery.  The  imaginative  feelings  of  the  people,  and  the  wil^ 
character  of  many  parts  of  the  country,  were  peculiarly  calcula¬ 
ted  to  foster  superstitions  of  this  description. 

In  fact,  we  may  there  trace  back  distinctly  most  of  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  the  earlier  belief  relating  to  witchcraft  to  the  my¬ 
thology  of  the  ante-christian  period.  The  grand  night  of  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  German  witches  was  the  night  of  St.  Walpurgis, 
which  answered  to  one  of  the  great  religious  festivals  of  the 
Teutonic  tribes  before  their  conversion.  In  after-times  two  other 
nights  of  annual  assembly  were  added,  those  of  the  feasts  of  St. 
John  and  St.  Bartholomew.  It  is  probable  that,  as  Christianity 
gained  ground,  and  became  established  as  the  religion  of  the 
state,  the  old  religious  festivals,  to  which  the  lower  and  more  ig¬ 
norant  part  of  the  people,  and  particularly  the  weaker  sex  (more 
susceptible  of  superstitious  feelings),  were  still  attached,  were 
celebrated  in  solitary  places  and  in  private,  and  those  who  fre¬ 
quented  them  were  branded  as  witches  and  sorcerers  who  met 
together  to  hold  communication  with  demons,  for  as  such  the 
earlier  Christians  looked  upon  all  the  heathen  gods.  This  gives 
us  an  easy  explanation  of  the  manner  in  which  the  heathen  vvor- 


GERMAN  SORCERY. 


93 


ship  became  transformed  into  the«witchcraft  of  the  middle  ages. 
At  an  early  period  it  was  commonly  believed  that  the  witches 
( unholde )  rode  through  the  air  to  the  place  of  rendezvous  on  reeds 
and  sticks,  or  on  besoms,  which  latter  were  the  articles  readiest 
at  hand  to  women  of  this  class  ol  society.  I  he  chief  place  ot 
meeting,  at  the  great  annual  witch-festivals  in  Germany,  appears 
to  have  been,  from  an  early  period,  the  Brocken  mountain,  the 
highest  part  of  the  wild  Hartz  chain;  but  there  were  several 
other  favorite  places  of  resort.  The  persons  believed  to  have 
been  initiated  at  their  assemblies  were  looked  upon  with  dread, 
for  they  were  supposed  to  be  capable  ot  injuring  people  in  va¬ 
rious  ways,  both  in  their  persons  and  in  their  possessions,  and 
their  malice  was  especially  directed  against  little  children.  One 
of  the  earliest  trials  for  witchcraft,  unconnected  with  other  ofien- 
ces,  on  the  continent,  is  that  of  a  woman  in  the  bishopric  of 
Novara,  on  the  northern  borders  of  Italy,  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century ;  and  it  illustrates  the  general  belief  in  Ger¬ 
many  at  that  period.  It  appears,  from  the  slight  account  which 
remains  of  this  trial  (which  is  printed  in  a  collection  of  criminal 
cases  in  Latin,  by  Joh.  Bapt.  Ziletti,  fol.  branch.  1578),  that  the 
belief  then  held  by  the  church  was,  that  women  of  this  class 
could,  by  their  touch  or  look,  fascinate  men,  or  children,  or 
beasts,  so  as  to  produce  sickness  and  death ;  and  they  believed 
further,  that  they  had  devoted  their  own  souls  to  the  demon,  to 
whom  also  they  had  done  personal  homage,  after  having  ti am- 
pled  underfoot  the  figure  of  the  cross.  For  these  offences  they 
were  judged  by  the  most  learned  theologians  to  be  worthy  of 
being  burnt  at  the  stake. 

In  the  earlier  period  of  the  history  of  witchcraft  in  Germany, 
we  find  no  traces  of  the  more  repulsive  details  of  the  sabbath  of 
the  sorcerers  ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  probable  that  they  were  intro¬ 
duced  there  perhaps  not  before  the  fourteenth  century,  and  that 
even  during  that  century  they  did  not  constitute  an  article  ot  the 
general  belief.  They  appear  to  have  originated  in  France  and 
Italy,  where  there  is  reason  for  believing,  that  down  to  a  late  pe¬ 
riod  some  of  the  worst  sects  of  the  ancient  Gnostics  retained  a 
footing.  These  sects  appear  to  have  been  justly  accused  with 
the  celebration  of  infamous  rites,  or  rather  orgies,  which  the  po¬ 
pish  church  found  it  convenient  to  lay  to  the  charge  of  all  whom 
it  thought  right  to  class  under  the  title  of  heretics.  The 
church, It  is  well  known,  claimed  the  right  of  judging  witch¬ 
craft,  by  considering  it  as  a  heresy,  or  as  akin  to  heresy,  and 
it  is  probable  that  by  the  confusion  of  ideas  thus  produced,  the 


94 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


orgies  of  the  Gnostics  were  transferred  to  the  sabbath  of  the 
witches. 

During  the  period  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  men  of 
sense  in  Germany,  and  the  better  educated  and  less  bigoted  por¬ 
tion  of  the  clergy,  appear  to  have  looked  upon  the  whole  as  a 
delusion  ;  witchcraft  was  a  crime,  inasmuch  as  it  was  an  act  of 
vulgar  superstition.  Some  of  the  early  councils  forbid  the  belief 
in  it,  and  consequently  the  partaking  in  any  of  its  practices  and 
ceremonies.  It  only  rose  to  higher  estimation  in  the  age  of  in¬ 
quisitors.  Toward  the  middle  and  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  the  question  of  witchcraft  began  to  be  much 
agitated.  The  wholesale  persecutions  of  witches  had  com¬ 
menced  with  the  celebrated  council  of  Constance  (1414  to  1418), 
which  had  proscribed  the  doctrines  of  Wycliffe,  and  condemned 
John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  to  the  flames.  One  of  the  in¬ 
quisitors  of  this  period,  a  Swiss  friar  preacher  named  John  Nider, 
published  a  work  on  the  various  sins  and  crimes  againt  religion, 
under  the  title  of  Formicarium  (or  the  Ant-hill),  the  fifth  book  of 
which  is  devoted  to  the  subject  of  sorcery.  This  book  was  pub¬ 
lished  toward  the  year  1440,  for  it  speaks  of  the  latter  events  of 
the  life  of  Joan  of  Arc  as  having  occurred  within  ten  years  ;  and 
the  author’s  information,  relative  to  sorcerers,  appears  to  be 
mainly  derived  from  the  inquisitor  of  Berne,  named  Peter,  who 
had  distinguished  himself  by  his  inactivity  in  the  pursuit  of 
witches  and  sorcerers,  and  had  caused  a  great  number  of  them 
to  be  burnt. 

According  to  John  Nider,  the  injury  done  by  the  witches  was 
manifold,  and  difficult  to  be  guarded  against ;  and  we  are  amused 
with  the  various  absurd  formulae  of  exorcism  which  he  recom¬ 
mends  against  their  effects,  as  though,  if  their  object  were  to 
drive  away  the  evil  one,  or  to  call  upon  Divine  interference,  one 
proper  formula  would  not  be  sufficient  for  every  case  that  could 
occur.  They  raised  at  will  destructive  storms  ;  they  caused  bar¬ 
renness,  both  of  living  beings  and  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth :  a 
man  at  Poltingen,  in  the  diocese  of  Lausanne,  by  placing  a 
charmed  lisard  under  the  doorstead  of  a  house,  is  stated  to  have 
caused  the  good  woman  of  the  house  to  have  abortive  births  dur¬ 
ing  seven  years,  and  to  have  produced  the  same  effect  on  all 
living  creatures  of  her  sex  which  remained  within  her  dwelling  ; 
when  the  sorcerer  was  seized,  and  made  a  full  confession  of  his 
evil  practices,  no  lizard  was  found  in  the  spot  indicated,  but  as  it 
was  supposed  during  so  long  a  period  of  time  to  have  been  en¬ 
tirely  decomposed  by  decay,  all  the  dust  under  the  door  was  care- 


SORCERY  IN  SWITZERLAND. 


95 


fully  carried  away,  and  from  that  time  the  inmates  were  relieved 
from  this  severe  visitation.  They  sometimes  raised  illicit  love  ;* 
and  at  others,  hindered  the  consummation  of  marriage,  excited 
hatred  between  man  and  wife,  and  raised  dissensions  between 
the  dearest  friends.  They  drove  horses  mad,  and  made  them 
run  away  with  their  riders.  They  conveyed  away  the  property  of 
others  into  their  own  possession  ;  though,  in  most  of  the  examples 
cited,  the  property  thus  conveyed  away  consisted  of  articles  of 
small  value.  They  made  known  people’s  secrets,  were  endowed 
with  the  power  of  second-sight,  and  were  able  to  foretell  events. 
They  caused  people  to  be  struck  with  lightning,  or  to  be  visited 
with  grievous  diseases  ;  and  did  many  other  “  detestable  things.” 
Their  enmity  appears  to  have  been  especially  directed  against 
little  children.  There  were  persons  of  both  sexes  who  con¬ 
fessed  to  having  transformed  themselves  into  wolves  and  other 
ravenous  beasts,  in  order  to  devour  them  more  at  their  ease. 
They  watched  opportunities  of  pushing  them  into  rivers  and 
wells,  or  of  bringing  upon  them  other  apparently  accidental 
deaths.  Their  appetite  for  children  is  said  to  have  been  so 
great,  that  when  they  could  not  get  those  of  other  persons,  they 
would  devour  their  own.  They  watched  more  especially  new¬ 
born  infants,  which,  if  possible,  they  killed  before  baptism,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  mothers  believe  that  they  had  died 
naturally,  or  been  overlain.  When  buried,  the  witches  dug  the 
bodies  out  of  the  graves,  and  carried  them  to  the  scene  of  their 
secret  rites,  where,  with  various  charms,  they  boiled  them  in 
caldrons,  and  reduced  them  to  an  unguent,  which  was  one  of 
their  most  efficient  preparations.  The  liquor  in  which  they 
were  boiled  was  drawn  off,  and  carefully  preserved  in  flasks. 
Any  one  who  drank  of  it,  became  in  an  instant  a  perfect  master 
of  the  whole  art  of  magic. 

Such  were  the  Swiss  witches  of  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  The  large  proportion  of  the  children  which  died  in 
the  middle  ages,  from  want  of  cleanness  and  improper  treatment, 
may  account,  in  some  measure,  for  the  readiness  with  which 
people  believed  in  the  agency  of  witchcraft  to  cause  their  de¬ 
struction.  John  Nider  makes  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  the 
witches’  sabbath  meetings,  a  circumstance  which  naturally  leads 
us  to  suppose  that  this  was  not  then  an  article  of  popular  belief 
in  the  district  with  the  superstitions  of  which  he  was  acquainted. 

*This  singular  writer,  among  liis  remedies,  indicates  as  the  most  effective  one 
against  the  goadings  of  the  passion  of  love  in  young  men,  to  frequent  the  company 
of  old  women!  Vetularum  aspectus  et  colloquia  amorem  excutiunt. 


96 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


They  had  sometimes  meetings  at  which  the  demon  appeared  in 
person,  either  to  initiate  new  converts,  or  to  obtain  his  aid  in  the 
perpetration  of  some  great  mischief. 

A  young  man,  named  Stadelin,  was  seized  at  Berne,  on  sus¬ 
picion  of  being  a  sorcerer,  and  submitted  to  the  most  cruel  tor¬ 
tures,  until  at  last  he  was  compelled  to  make  a  confession.  He 
gave  the  following  account  of  the  mode  in  which  a  new  sorcerer 
was  initiated.  He  must  first  in  a  church,  before  witnesses  who 
were  already  of  the  order,  make  a  full  denial  of  his  faith  and 
baptism.  He  was  then  taken  to  a  meeting,  and  made  to  do  hom¬ 
age  to  the  “  little  master,”  as  the  demon  was  called.  A  flask 
was  next  brought  forth,  and  he  drank  of  the  liquor  above  men¬ 
tioned,  after  which,  without  further  instruction,  he  became  fully 
and  intimately  acquainted  with  the  whole  art,  and  all  the  customs 
and  practices  of  the  sorcerers.  “  I  and  my  wife,”  said  Stadelin, 
“  were  thus  seduced  and  initiated  ;  but  she,  I  know,  is  too  strong¬ 
ly  possessed  by  the  evil  one,  and  too  obstinate  in  her  ill  ways, 
to  confess,  although  I  know  that  we  are  both  witches.”  The  in¬ 
quisitor  ordered  Stadelin  to  be  burnt  because  he  had  confessed, 
and  his  wife  because  she  would  not  confess  ;  for  so  far  the  man’s 
assertion  was  verified,  that  the  poor  woman  denied  all  he  said, 
and  was  dragged  to  the  stake,  obstinately  persisting  in  the  dec¬ 
laration  that  she  was  innocent. 

Stadelin  confessed  that  he  had  been  instrumental  in  perpetra¬ 
ting  much  mischief  by  means  of  thunder  and  lightning.  The 
way,  he  said,  in  which  they  effected  this,  was  to  go  to  a  place 
where  there  were  cross-roads,  and  there  call  upon  a  demon, 
who  immediately  came.  They  then  sacrificed  to  him  a  black 
chicken,  and  made  their  offering  by  tossing  it  up  in  the  air. 
This  was  followed  almost  immediately  by  a  violent  storm,  which 
was  most  destructive  in  the  places  that  had  been  pointed  out  to 
the  demon’s  anger.  It  may  be  observed,  that  the  belief  that 
storms  were  the  work  of  demons,  who  were  supposed  to  be  pres¬ 
ent  in  them,  was  universally  current  during  the  middle  ages. 

At  this  period,  the  demons,  contrary  to  their  practice  in  a  la¬ 
ter  age,  seem  to  have  exerted  themselves  in  the  defence  of  their 
worshippers,  when  the  latter  were  in  danger  of  falling  into  the 
hands  of  justice.  The  evil  one  generally  used  his  power  to  en¬ 
able  his  votaries  to  support  their  tortures  without  confessing. 
When  the  order  was  given  to  arrest  Stadelin,  the  officers  sent 
in  search  of  him  felt  such  a  sudden  numbness  in  their  hands 
and  members,  that  they  were  a  long  time  before  they  could  take 
hold  of  him. 


THE  INQUISITOR  PUNISHED. 


97 


The  witches,  at  this  time,  sometimes  counteracted  each  other, 
which,  according  to  the  information  given  to  John  Nider  by  an¬ 
other  inquisitor,  was  effected  in  the  following  manner :  A  per¬ 
son  who  believed  himself  to  be  bewitched,  and  who  desired  to 
take  vengeance  on  the  person  who  had  bewitched  him,  though 
entirely  ignorant  who  was  his  tormentor,  applied  for  this  pur¬ 
pose  to  another  witch,  and  told  her  his  case.  She  immediately 
took  lead,  melted  it,  and  threw  it  into  a  vessel  of  water,  and,  by 
magical  agency,  it  received  the  rude  shape  of  a  man.  She  then 
said,  “  In  which  member  of  his  body  will  you  have  me  punish 
your  enemy  ?”  And  upon  his  naming  the  member,  she  struck 
a  sharp  instrument  into  the  corresponding  part  of  the  leaden  fig¬ 
ure.  The  inquisitor  assured  John  Nider  that  the  sorcerer  who 
was  the  author  of  the  witchcraft  by  which  the  complainant  had 
been  affected,  never  failed  to  suffer  in  the  identical  part  of  the 
body  which  had  been  struck  in  effigy  by  the  witch. 

The  inquisitors  themselves  were  not  always  safe  from  the  ven¬ 
geance  of  the  witches.  Peter,  the  inquisitor  of  Berne,  told  Ni¬ 
der  that  he  was  obliged  to  be  constantly  on  his  guard,  for  he  had 
been  so  great  a  persecutor  of  sorcerers,  that  he  knew  they  had 
been  long  watching  for  an  opportunity  of  injuring  him.  He, 
however,  was  strong  in  the  faith,  and  he  signed  himself  with  the 
sign  of  the  cross  at  night  when  he  went  to  his  bed,  and  again 
when  he  arose  in  the  morning.  Once,  however,  the  opportu¬ 
nity,  long  looked  for,  occurred. 

Peter,  while  holding  the  office  of  judge  over  Berne,  resided 
in  the  castle  of  Blanckenburg,  which,  on  resigning  his  office,  he 
quitted  to  return  to  a  house  in  the  city ;  but,  one  of  his  own 
friends  being  elected  his  successor,  he  was  not  an  unfrequent 
visiter  to  the  castle.  One  day  he  went  thither,  and,  in  resigning 
himself  to  slumber,  he  signed  himself  as  usual.  It  happened, 
however,  that  during  the  day  he  had  committed  some  oversight 
in  his  religious  duties,  which  took  from  this  ceremony  its  ordi¬ 
nary  degree  of  efficacy.  It  was  his  intention  to  rise  in  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  the  night,  and  to  pass  an  hour  or  two  in  writing  some 
correspondence  of  an  important  character.  At  midnight  he  was 
disturbed  from  his  sleep  in  an  unaccountable  manner,  and  per¬ 
ceiving  a  light  like  that  of  day,  he  supposed  that  it  was  morning, 
and  that  his  servant  had  forgot  to  call  him  at  the  time  appointed. 
He  rose  from  his  bed  in  an  ill-humor,  and  went  down  stairs  to 
seek  his  writing  materials,  but  he  found  that  the  room  in  which 
they  had  been  left  was  locked.  Peter  now  burst  into  a  great 
rage,  and  returned  upstairs  to  bed,  muttering  maledictions,  but 

9 


93 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


he  had  hardly  pronounced  the  words  “  in  the  devil’s  name  !”  (in 
nomine  diaboli),  when  he  suddenly  found  himself  in  utter  dark¬ 
ness,  amid  dreadful  noises,  and  he  was  struck  down  with  so 
much  force  that  he  remained  senseless  on  the  steps,  until  his 
servant,  who  slept  near,  roused  by  the  unusual  noise,  came  to 
his  assistance.  For  a  time,  the  inquisitor  seemed  to  be  entirely 
deprived  of  his  reason,  and  it  was  three  weeks  before  he  re¬ 
gained  the  perfect  use  of  his  members. 

The  cause  of  this  singular  visitation  was  accidentally  brought 
to  light  some  time  afterward.  A  man  of  Friburg,  who  Avas 
looked  upon  suspiciously  in  his  own  neighborhood,  went  on 
business  to  Berne,  and  sat  in  a  tavern,  drinking  with  some  of 
the  citizens.  Suddenly  he  appeared  abstracted,  and  exclaimed, 
“  I  see  so-and-so  [mentioning  a  man’s  name]  creeping  round  my 
house,  and  stealing  the  lines  I  had  laid  in  the  river  to  catch  fish.” 
This  was  second-sight,  or,  as  the  mesmerist  Avould  say,  clair¬ 
voyance,  for  the  man’s  house  av as  distant  about  six  German  miles, 
or,  nearly  thirty  English  miles,  from  Berne.  The  persons  Avho 
were  sitting  by,  looked  at  him  with  astonishment;  and,  after  the 
first  moment  of  surprise,  taking  him  for  a  sorcerer,  they  seized 
upon  him,  and  carried  him  before  the  inquisitor.  The  latter  put 
him  to  the  torture  during  two  days,  Avithout  effect ;  but,  on  the 
third,  which  happened  to  be  the  feast  of  the  Virgin,  he  made  a 
confession,  after  stating  that  the  demon  had  hindered  him  from 
confessing  during  the  two  preceding  days,  but  that  day,  being 
under  the  influence  of  the  Virgin,  the  fiend  had  lost  his  poAver. 
Among  other  things,  he  stated  that  he  Avas  one  of  four  sorcer¬ 
ers,  who  had  joined  Avith  a  Avitch  to  take  vengeance  on  the  in¬ 
quisitor,  who,  as  judge  of  Borne,  had  given  judgment  against  her 
in  some  case  Avhich  had  come  within  his  jurisdiction.  _  Fie  said, 
that  on  such  a  day  (naming  the  day  on  Avhich  the  inquisitor  had 
paid  his  unlucky  visit  to  Blanckenburg),  having  learned  that  the 
inquisitor  was  less  on  his  guard  than  usual,  they  had  met  to¬ 
gether  in  a  certain  field,  and,  by  means  of  sorcery,  had  caused 
the  accident  which  had  fallen  upon  him  in  the  night.  The  in- 
*  quisitor  gravely  stated,  that  he  did  not  believe  that  the  individu¬ 
als  themselves  had  been  personally  there  to  strike  him,  but  that 
the  devil  had  struck  him,  at  their  bidding. 

From  the  time  of  John  Nider,  the  persecution  of  Avitches  in 
Germany  increased  in  intensity.  Ih  1484,  a  bull  of  the  pope 
appointed  inquisitors  for  this  especial  purpose,  and  the  folloAving 
year  they  burnt  upward  of  forty,  within  a  small  space  on  the 
borders  of  Austria  and  Italy.  In  1486,  the  emperor  Maximilian 


THE  MALLEUS  MALEFICARUM. 


99 


I.,  then  at  Brussels,  took  the  papal  inquisitors,  sent  to  put  down 
witchcraft  in  Germany,  under  his  protection.  Nevertheless,  the 
archduke  Sigismund,  who  was  prince  of  the  Tyrol,  and  a  man 
above  the  ordinary  prejudices  of  his  time,  at  first  gave  what 
protection  he  could  to  the  miserable  objects  of  persecution  ;  but 
he  was  at  length  obliged  to  allow  himseif.  to  be  carried  away  by 
the  popular  torrent.  He  employed  Ulric  Molitor  to  compose  a 
dialogue  on  the  subject,  which  was  printed  under  the  title  De 
Pythonicis  Mulieribus ,  at  Constance,  in  the  beginning  of  1489. 
In  this  tract,  the  archduke  Sigismund,  Ulric  Molitor,  and  a  citi¬ 
zen  oi  Constance,  named  Conrad  Schak,  are  introduced  as  the 
interlocutors,  Sigismund  arguing  against  the  common  belief.  In 
conclusion,  the  witches  are  judged  worthy  of  execution,  although 
the  opinions  here  expressed  as  to  witchcraft  itself  are  by  no 
means  those  of  the  inquisitors.  From  this  time  there  arose  two 
parties,  one  ot  which  sustained  that  all  the  crimes  imputed  to 
the  witches  were  real  bona  fide  acts,  while  the  other  asserted 
that  many  ol  the  circumstances  to  which  theyAvere  made  to  con¬ 
fess,  such  as  their  being  carried  through  the  air,  and  their  pres¬ 
ence  at  the  sabbath,  were  mere  delusions,  produced  on  their  im¬ 
agination  by  their  master  the  deAul.  Both  parties,  however, 
agreed  in  general  to  the  condemnation  of  the  offenders. 

Under  the  papal  inquisitors  appointed  by  the  bull  of  1484,  the 
persecution  of  people  accused  of  witchcraft  was  carried  on  Avith 
a  fury  which  can  only  be  compared  with  Avhat  took  place  in  dif- 
fcient  countries  at.  the  latter  part  of  the  end  of  the  following  cen¬ 
tury.  Hundreds  of  Avretched  individuuls  were  publicly  burnt  at 
the  stake  Avithin  the  space  of  a  few  years.  As  an  apology  for 
these  proceedings,  two  of  the  inquisitors,  Jacob  Sprengar  and 
(as  the  other  is  named  in  Latin)  Henricus  Institor,  employed 
themselves  in  compiling  a  rather  large  volume  under  the  title 
Malleus  Malejicarum,  which  was  printed  before  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  In  this  celebrated  work,  the  doctrine  of  witch¬ 
craft  was  first  reduced  to  a  regular  system,  and  it  was  the  model 
and  groundwork  of  all  that  was  written  on  the  subject  long  after 
the  date  Avhich  saw  its  first  appearance.  Its  writers  enter  large¬ 
ly  into  the  much-disputed  question  of  the  nature  of  demons  ;  set 
forth  the  causes  which  lead  them  to  seduce  men  in  this  manner; 
and  show  why  women  are  most  prone  to  listen  to  their  pro¬ 
posals,  by  reasons  which  prove  that  the  inquisitors  had  but  a 
mean  estimate  of  the  softer  sex.  The  inquisitors  show  the  most 
extraordinary  skill  in  explaining  all  the  difficulties  which  seemed 
to  beset  the  subject ;  they  even  prove  to  their  entire  satisfaction 


100 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


that  persons  who  have  become  witches  may  easily  change  them¬ 
selves  into  beasts,  particularly  into  wolves  and  cats  ;  and  after  the 
exhibition  of  such  a  mass  of  learning,  few  would  venture  any  long¬ 
er  to  entertain  a  doubt.  They  investigate,  not  only  the  methods 
employed  to  effect  various  kinds  of  mischief,  but  also  the  coun¬ 
ter-charms  and  exorcisms  that  may  be  used  against  them.  They 
likewise  tell,  from  their  own  experience,  the  dangers  to  which 
the  inquisitors  were  exposed,  and  exult  in  the  fact  that  they  were 
a  class  of  men  against  whom  sorcery  had  no  power.  These  wri¬ 
ters  actually  tell  us,  that  the  demon  had  tried  to  frighten  them  by 
day  and  by  night  in  the  forms  of  apes,  dogs,  goats,  &c.  ;  and  that 
they  frequently  found  large  pins  stuck  in  their  night-caps,  which 
they  doubted  not  came  there  by  witchcraft.  When  we  hear  these 
inquisitors  asserting  that  the  crime  of  which  the  witches  were 
accused,  deserved  a  more  extreme  punishment  than  all  the  vilest 
actions  of  which  humanity  is  capable,  we  can  understand  in  some 
degree  the  complacency  with  which  they  relate  how,  by  their 
means,  forty  persons  had  been  burned  in  one  place,  and  fifty  in 
another,  and  a  still  greater  number  in  a  third.  From  the  time  of 
the  publication  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum,  the  continental  press 
during  two  or  three  generations  teemed  with  publications  on  the 
all-absorbing  subject  of  sorcery. 

One  of  the  points  on  which  opinion  had  differed  most  was, 
whether  the  sorcerers  were  carried  bodily  through  the  air  to  the 
place  of  meeting,  or  whether  it  was  an  imaginary  journey,  sug¬ 
gested  to  their  minds  by  the  agency  of  the  evil  one.  The  Au¬ 
thors  of  the  Malleus  decide  at  once  in  favor  of  the  bodily  trans¬ 
mission.  One  of  them  was  personally  acquainted  with  a  priest  of 
the  diocese  of  Frisingen,  who  declared  that  he  had  in  his  younger 
days  been  carried  through  the  air  by  a  demon  to  a  place  at  a  very 
great  distance  from  the  spot  whence  he  had  been  taken.  An¬ 
other  priest,  his  friend,  declared  that  he  had  seen  him  carried 
away,  and  that  he  appeared  to  him  to  be  borne  up  on  a  kind  of  cloud. 
At  Baldshut,  on  the  Rhine,  in  the  diocese  of  Constance,  a  witch 
confessed,  that  offended  at  not  having  been  invited  to  the  wed¬ 
ding  of  an  acquaintance,  she  had  caused  herself  to  be  carried 
through  the  air,  in  open  daylight,  to  the  top  of  a  neighboring 
mountain,  and  there,  having  made  a  hole  with  her  hands  and  filled 
it  with  water,  she  had,  by  stirring  the  water  with  certain  incanta¬ 
tions,  caused  a  heavy  storm  to  burst  forth  on  the  heads  of  the 
wedding-party;  and  there  were  witnesses  at  the  trial  who  swore 
they  saw  her  carried  through  the  air.  The  inquisitors,  however, 
confess,  that  the  witches  were  sometimes  carried  away,  as  they 


THE  INVOKER  OF  RAIN. 


101 


term  it,  in  the  spirit ;  and  they  give  the  instance  of  one  woman 
who  was  watched  by  her  husband ;  she  appeared  as  if  asleep, 
and  was  insensible,  but  he  perceived  a  kind  of  cloudy 'vapor  arise 
out  of  her  mouth,  and  vanish  from  the  room  in  which  she  lay — 
this  after  a  time  returned,  and  she  then  awoke,  and  gave  an  ac¬ 
count  of  her  adventures,  as  though  she  had  been  carried  bodily  to 
the  assembly. 

The  Swiss  and  German  witches  are  represented  at  this  period 
as  showing  an  extraordinary  eagerness  to  make  converts.  The 
neophyte  was  admitted  either  at  the  great  solemnjissemblies  or  at 
smaller  private  meetings  where  the  demon  was  present — he  or 
she  was  obliged  to  deny  faith  in  Christ,  do  homage  to  the  demon, 
and  then  received  from  his  hands  a  certain  quantity  of  an  un¬ 
guent,  made  of  men’s  bones  and  the  flesh  of  unbaptized  infants. 
It  was  this  unguent  which,  being  rubbed  on  the  body,  enabled  the 
sorcerer  to  travel  through  the  air. 

Some  persons,  even  of  the  same  sex,  were  naturally  more 
prone  to  become  witches  than  others,  and  this  was  observed  to 
run  in  families,  so  that  when  a  witch  was  convicted,  all  her  kin¬ 
dred  fell  under  suspicion,  and  the  number  of  prosecutions  in¬ 
creased  as  they  went  on.  The  children  of  a  witch  almost  always 
followed  in  the  track  of  their  mother,  and  they  were  sometimes 
endowed  with  the  power  of  sorcery  long  before  they  arrived  at 
an  age  to  understand  the  sinfulness  of  their  conduct.  The  rev¬ 
erend  inquisitors  who  wrote  the  Malleus,  tell  us  of  a  singular  fact 
which  had  come  under  their  own  immediate  notice.  A  farmer 
in  Switzerland  was  walking  out  into  his  fields,  and  bitterly  com¬ 
plaining  of  the  want  of  rain  which  was  rendering  them  sterile. 
A  little  girl  of  only  eight  years  of  age  accosted  him,  and  said  in 
a  playful  manner,  “  You  need  not  grieve  for  want  of  rain,  for  I 
can  give  you  as  much  as  you  like.” 

The  latter,  in  astonishment,  exclaimed,  “  Who  taught  thee  to 
bring  rain  ?” 

“  I  learned  it  from  my  mother,”  was  the  reply. 

“  And  how  do  you  proceed  to  effect  this  object?”  inquired  the 
farmer. 

“  Give  me  some  water,”  said  the  little  girl,“  and  I  will  show  you.” 

The  farmer  took  her  to  a  small  brook  which  was  near  at  hand. 
“  Now,”  said  he,  “  if  you  can,  cause  the  rain  to  fall  upon  all  my 
fields,  but  upon  those  of  no  other  person.” 

The  little  girl  put  her  hand  in  the  water,  stirred  it  in  a  partic¬ 
ular  manner,  muttering  at  the  same  time  unintelligible  words,  and 
a  plentiful  shower  fell  upon  the  farmer’s  lands,  as  he  desired. 

9* 


102 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


He  then  asked  her  if  she  could  produce  hail  or  thunder,  and  on 
her  answering  in  the  affirmative,  he  intimated  his  wish  to  have 
a  sample  of  a  hail-storm  in  one  field  only.  The  girl  moved  her 
hands  more  violently  in  the  wrater,  muttering  other  words,  and  a 
heavy  shower  of  hail  followed  immediately.  When  the  farmer, 
still  more  amazed  at  this  instance  of  power  in  a  child,  inquired 
how  she  had  been  taught  to  do  this,  she  said,  “  My  mother  gave 
me  a  master,  and  he  taught  me.” 

The  farmer  pressed  her  for  a  further  explanation,  and  asked 
her  if  she  saw  .this  master  visibly. 

“  Yes,”  she  said,  “  when  I  am  with  my  mother  I  see  men  com¬ 
ing  in  and  going  out,  and  these  my  mother  tells  me  are  our  mas¬ 
ters.” 

This  innocent  revelation  led  to  the  seizure  of  the  woman  on 
suspicion  of  being  a  witch  ;  she  was  carried  before  the  inquisi¬ 
tors,  put  to  the  torture  until  she  confessed,  and  then  burnt.  The 
child  was  spared  on  account  of  its  age,  but  as  a  measure  of  pre¬ 
caution,  it  was  placed  in  a  nunnery. 

The  witches  of  the  Malleus  Malleficarum  appear  to  have  been 
more  injurious  to  horses  and  cattle  than  to  mankind.  A  witch  at 
Ravenspurg  confessed  that  she  had  killed  twenty-three  horses  by 
sorcery.  We  are  led  to  wonder  most  at  the  ease  with  which 
people  are  brought  to  bear  witness  to  things  utterly  beyond  the 
limits  of  belief.  A  man  of  the  name  of  Stauff,  in  the  territory 
of  Berne,  declared  that  when  pursued  by  the  agents  of  justice, 
he  escaped  by  taking  the  form  of  a  mouse  ;  and  persons  were 
found  to  testify  that  they  had  seen  him  perform  this  transmuta¬ 
tion. 

The  latter  part  of  the  work  of  the  two  inquisitors  gives  mi¬ 
nute  directions  for  the  mode  in  which  the  prisoners  are  to  be 
treated,  the  means  to  be  used  to  force  them  to  a  confession,  the 
degree  of  evidence  required  for  conviction  of  those  who  would 
not  confess,  and  the  whole  process  of  the  trials.  These  show 
sufficiently  that  the  unfortunate  wretch  who  was  once  brought 
before  the  inquisitors  of  the  holy  see  on  the  suspicion  of  sorcery, 
however  slight  might  be  the  grounds  of  the  charge,  had  very 
small  chance  of  escaping  out  of  their  claws. 

The  Malleus  contains  no  distinct  allusion  to  the  proceedings 
at  the  sabbath.  The  witches  of  this  period  differ  little  from 
those  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  earlier  inquisitors  of 
Constance.  WTe  see  plainly  how,  in  most  countries,  the  myste¬ 
riously  indefinite  crime  of  sorcery  had  first  been  seized  on  to  ruin 
the  cause  of  great  political  offenders,  until  the  fictitious  import- 


WITCHCRAFT  IN  SCOTLAND. 


103 


ance  thus  given  to  it  brought  forward  into  a  prominent  position, 
which  they  would,  perhaps,  never  otherwise  have  held,  the  mis¬ 
erable  class  who  were  supposed  to  be  more  especially  engaged 
in  it.  It  was  the  judicial  prosecutions  and  the  sanguinary  exe¬ 
cutions  which  followed,  that  stamped  that  character  of  reality  on 
charges  of  which  it  required  two  or  three  centuries  to  convince 
mankind  of  the  emptiness  and  vanity.  One  of  the  chief  instru¬ 
ments  in  fixing  the  belief  in  sorcery,  and  in  giving  it  that  terri¬ 
ble  hold  on  society  which  it  exhibited  in  the  following  century, 
was  the  compilation  of  Jacob  Sprenger  and  his  fellow  inquisitor. 
In  this  book  sorcery  was  reduced  to  a  system,  but  it  was  not  yet 
perfect ;  and  we  must  look  forward  some  half  century  before  we 
find  it  clothed  with  all  the  horrors  which  cast  so  much  terror  in¬ 
to  every  class  of  society. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WITCHCRAFT  IN  SCOTLAND  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

It  has  been  already  remarked,  that  the  superstitions  connected 
with  sorcery  and  magic  had  their  foundation  in  the  earlier  my¬ 
thology  of  the  people.  If  we  would  perceive  this  connection 
more  intimately,  we  have  only  to  turn  our  eyes  toward  Scotland, 
a  country  in  which  this  mythology  had  preserved  its  sway  over 
the  popular  imagination  much  longer  than  in  the  more  civilized 
south.  We  know  but  little  of  the  Scottish  popular  superstitions 
until  the  sixteenth  century,  when  they  are  found  in  nearly  the 
same  shape  in  which  they  had  appeared  in  England  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries.  In  Scotland,  witchcraft  had  not  been 
magnified  and  modified  by  the  systematical  proceedings  of  eccle¬ 
siastical  inquisitors,  and  it  is  therefore  found  in  a  much  less 
sophisticated  form. 

In  Scotland,  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  witchcraft  first  makes 
its  appearance  in  judiciary  proceedings  as  an  instrument  of  polit¬ 
ical  or  personal  animosity,  and  was  used  where  other  grounds 
of  accusation  were  too  weak  to  effect  the  objects  of  the  accuser, 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  earl  of  Mar,  brother 
of  James  III.,  was  accused  of  consulting  witches  and  sorcerers, 
in  order  to  shorten  the  king’s  days,  and  he  was  bled  to  death  in 
his  own  lodgings,  whout  even  being  brought  to  a  trial.  Twelve 


104 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


■witches,  and  three  or  four  wizards,  were  subsequently  burnt  at 
Edinburgh  as  his  accomplices.  In  the  century  following,  in 
1532,  a  woman  of  rank  and  beauty,  Janet  Douglas,  Lady  Glam- 
mis,  was  charged  with  having  caused  the  death  of  her  first  hus¬ 
band  by  sorcery,  but  escaped,  to  be  tried  and  burnt,  amid  the  gen¬ 
eral  commiseration  of  her  countrymen,  for  a  similar  crime  which 
she  was  said  to  have  attempted  against  the  person  of  James  V., 
with  a  view  to  the  restoration  of  the  Douglas  family,  the  object  of 
James’s  special  hatred.  In  these  executions,  death  was  the  pun¬ 
ishment  rather  of  the  treason  than  of  the  sorcery ;  and  the  first 
simple  case  of  the  latter  which  we  find  in  the  records  of  the  high 
fcourt  of  justiciary  in  Scotland,  is  that  of  Agnes  Mullikine,  alias 
Bessie  Boswell,  of  Dumfermling,  who,  in  1563,  was  “banished 
and  exiled”  for  witchcraft,  a  mild  sentence  which  seldom  occurs 
in  subsequent  times.  The  records  just  alluded  to,  published  a 
few  years  ago  by  Mr.  Robert  Pitcairn,  will  be  our  chief  guide  in 
the  history  of  sorcery  in  Scotland. 

In  Scotland,  the  witches  received  their  power,  not  from  the 
evil  one,  but  from  the  “  fairy  folk,”  with  whom,  at  least  until  a 
late  period,  their  connection  was  more  innocent,  and  was  char¬ 
acterized  by  none  of  the  disgusting  particularities  which  distin¬ 
guished  the  proceedings  of  their  sisters  on  the  continent.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  an  old  and  popular  ballad — as  ancient  perhaps  as  the 
fourteenth  century — the  celebrated  Thomas  of  Ercildowne  ob¬ 
tained  his  supposed  skill  in  prophecy  from  his  connection  with 
the  queen  of  faery.  In  1576,  a  very  extraordinary  case  was 
tried  before  the  high  court,  in  which  the  chief  actress  was  known 
as  Bessie  Dunlop,  a  native  of  the  county  of  Ayr,  and  wife  of  a 
cottager  named  Andro  Jak.  In  her  confession,  this  woman  sta¬ 
ted  that  she  was  one  day  going  from  her  own  house  to  the  yard 
of  Monkcastell,  driving  her  cows  to  the  pasture,  and  weeping 
“  for  her  cow  that  was  dead,”  her  husband  and  child  that 
were  both  lying  ill  of  an  epidemic,  and  herself  newly  risen  from 
child-bed,  when  a  strange  man  met  her  by  the  way,  and  saluted 
her  with  the  words,  “  Gude  day,  Bessie  !”  She  returned  his 
salutation,  and  in  answer  to  his  inquiries,  told  him  of  her  trou¬ 
bles,  upon  which  he  informed  her,  that  her  child,  as  well  as  the 
sick  cow,  and  two  of  her  sheep,  would  die,  but  that  her  “  gude 
man  ”  should  soon  recover,  all  of  which  took  place  as  he  fore¬ 
told.  She  described  her  interrogator  as  “  ane  honest  wele-el- 
derlie  man,  gray  bairdit  [bearded],  and  had  ane  gray  coilt  with 
Lumbart  slevis  of  the  auld  fassoun  ;  ane  pair  of  gray  brekis 
[breeches],  and  quhyte  schankis,  gartanit  abone  the  kne ;  ane 


thome  retd  and  bessie  dunlop. 


105 


black  lionet  ou  bis  heid,  cloise  behind  and  plane  befoir,  with 
silkin  laissis  drawin  throw  the  lippis  thairof;  and  ane  quhyte 
wand  m  his  hand.”  This  personage  told  her  at  last  that  he  was 
one  Thome  Reid,  “  quha  diet  [died],  at  Pinkye.”  (Sept.  10, 
1547.)  And  this  account  was  confirmed  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  disappeared  through  the  yard  of  Monkcastell :  “I  thocht  he 
gait  in  at  ane  narroware  hoill  of  the  dyke,  nor  ony  erdlie  man 
culd  haif  gane  throw  ;  and  swa  I  was  sumthing  fleit  [aghast].” 
It  appears  that  1  home  Reid  had  been  a  turned-off  servant  of  the 
laird  ol  Blair,  and  Bessie  Dunlop  was  once  sent  on  a  message 
to  his  son,  who  inherited  his  name,  and  had  succeeded  to  hi's 
place  m  the  household  of  the  laird  of  Blair,  and  who  fully  con¬ 
firmed  Thome’s  story,  that  he  had  gone  to  the  battle  of  Pinkye, 
and  fallen  in  that  disastrous  conflict. 

The  next  time  Thome  Reid  appeared  to  Bessie,  as  she  was 
going  between  her  own  house  and  the  thorn  of  Dawmstarnok, 
and  he  then  declared  more  openly  his  ultimate  designs.  After 
remaining  some  time  with  her,  Thome  asked  her  pointedly  if 
she  would  belief  in  him,  to  which  she  replied  with  great  naivete, 
“  She  would  believe  in  anybody  who  did  her  good.”  Thome 
had  hitherto  spoken  like  a  good  Christian,  and  at  their  first  in¬ 
terview  he  had  addressed  her  in  the  name  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
but  now,  encouraged  by  her  answer,  he  boldly  proposed  to  her 
that  she  should  “  deny  her  Christendom,  and  tlie  faith  she  took  at 
the  baptismal  font,  in  return  for  which  she  should  have  goods 
and  horses  and  cows  in  abundance,  besides  other  advantages. 
Phis,  however,  she  refused  indignantly,  and  her  tempter  went 
away,  “  something  angry”  with  her. 

Thome’s  visits  generally  occurred  at  mid-day,  not  at  the  still 
hour  of  night,  and  he  seemed  little  embarrassed  by  the  presence 
of  other  company.  Shortly  after  the  interview  just  mentioned, 
he  visited  her  in  her  own  house,  where  she  was  in  company 
with  her  husband  and  three  tailors,  and,  unseen  by  these,  he 
took  her  by  the  apron  and  led  her  to  the  door,  and  she  followed 
him  up  to  the  hill-end,  and  there  he  told  her  to  remain  quiet 
and  speak  not,  whatever  she  might  hear  and  see.  She  then 
ad\  anced  a  little,  and  suddenly  saw  twelve  persons,  eight  women 
and  four  men — “  the  men  were  clad  in  gentlemen’s  clothing,  and 
the  women  had  all  plaids  round  about  them,  and  were  very 
seemly  like  to  see,  and  Thome  was  with  them.”  They  bade  her 
sit  down,  and  said,  “Welcome,  Bessie,  wilt  thou  go  "with  us?” 
but  as  she  had  been  warned,  she  returned  no  answer,  and,  after 
holding  a  consultation  among  themselves,  which  she  did  not  hear, 


106 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


they  disappeared  in  a  “  hideous”  whirlwind.  Shortly  afterward 
Thome  returned,  and  told  her  the  persons  she  had  seen  were 
the  “  good  wights,”  who  dwelt  in  the  court  of  Elfen,  who  came 
there  to  invite  her  to  go  with  them,  and  he  repeated  the  invita¬ 
tion  very  pressingly,  but  she  answered  that  “  she  saw  no  profit 
to  gang  that  kind  of  gates,  unless  she  knew  wherefore.” 

Then  he  said,  “  Seest  thou  not  me,  worth  meat  and  worth 
clothes,  and  good  enough  like  in  person  ?”  and  he  promised  to 
make  her  far  better  off  than  ever  she  was. 

Her  answer,  however,  was  still  the  same — she  dwelt  with 
her  own  husband  and  “  bairns,”  and  could  not  leave  them — and 
so  he  “  began  to  be  very  crabbed  with  her,”  and  told  her  that  if 
she  continued  in  that  mind  she  would  get  little  good  of  him. 
His  anger,  however,  appears  to  have  soon  subsided,  and  he  con¬ 
tinued  to  come  at  her  call,  and  give  her  his  advice  and  assistance, 
always  treating  her  with  respect,  for  she  declared  that  the  great¬ 
est  liberty  he  had  taken  with  her  was  to  draw  her  by  the  apron 
when  he  would  persuade  her  to  go  with  him  to  fairy-land.  She 
said  that  she  sometimes  saw  him  in  public  places,  as  in  Edin¬ 
burgh  streets  on  a  market-day,  and  that  on  one  occasion,  when 
she  was  “  gone  a-field”  with  her  husband  to  Leith,  she  went  to 
tie  her  nag  to  the  stake  by  Restalrig  loch,  and  there  came  sud¬ 
denly  a  company  of  riders  by  “  that  made  a  din  as  though  heaven 
and  earth  had  gone  together,”  and  immediately  they  rode  into 
the  loch  with  a  “  hideous  rumble.”  Thome  came  to  her  and 
told  her  that  it  was  the  “  good  wights,”  who  were  taking  their 
ride  in  this  world.  On  another  occasion  Thome  told  her  the 
reason  of  his  visit  to  her ;  he  called  to  her  remembrance  that 
one  day  when  she  was  ill  in  child-bed,  and  near  her  time  of  de¬ 
livery,  a  stout  woman  came  in  to  her,  and  sat  down  on  the  form 
beside  her,  and  asked  a  drink  of  her,  and  she  immediately  gave 
it;  this  he  said  was  his  mistress,  the  queen  of  Elfen,  who  had 
commanded  him  to  wait  upon  her  and  “  do  her  good.” 

The  whole  extent  of  Bessie  Dunlop’s  witchcraft  consisted  in 
curing  diseases  and  recovering  stolen  property,  which  she  did 
by  the  agency  of  her  unearthly  visiter,  who  gave  her  medicines, 
or  showed  her  how  to  prepare  them.  Some  of  her  statements 
appear  to  have  been  confirmed  by  other  witnesses  ;  and  however 
we  may  judge  of  the  connection  between  Thome  Reid  and  Bes¬ 
sie  Dunlop,  it  is  rendered  certain  by  the  entry  in  the  court 
records,  that  the  unfortunate  woman  was  convict  and  byrnt.” 

From  this  time  cases  of  witchcraft  occur  more  frequently  in 
the  judicial  records,  and  they  become  exceedingly  numerous  as 


ALISON  PEIRSOUN. 


107 


"  e  approach  the  end  of  the  century,  still,  however,  distinguished 
by  their  purely  Scottish  character.  A  remarkable  case  is  re¬ 
corded  in  the  memorable  year  1588,  which  has  several  points  of 
resemblance  with  the  story  of  Bessie  Dunlop.  The  heroine  was 
Alison  Peirsoun,  ot  Byrehill,  whose  connection  with  “  faerie” 
originated  with  her  kinsman,  William  Sympsoune,  a  “  oreat 
scholar  and  doctor  of  medicine.”  He  was  born  at  Stirling,  his 
father  being  the  king’s  smith,  but  he  “  was  taken  away  from  his 
father  by  a  man  of  Egypt,  a  giant,  while  but  a  child,  who  led 
him  away  to  Egypt  with  him,  where  he  remained  by  the  space 
ot  twelve  years  before  he  came  home  again.”  During  this  time 
his  father,  who  also  appears  to  have  had  a  hankering  after  un¬ 
lawful  knowledge,  died  “  for  opening  a  priest’s  book  and  look- 
ing  upon  it.  On  his  return  home,  Alison  Peirsoun  became 
intimate  with  her  kinsman,  who  cured  her  of  certain  diseases, 
until,  as  it  would  appear,  he  died  also.  One  day,  as  she  stated, 
being  in  Grange  Muir,  with  the  people  that  passed  to  the  muir 
(moor),  she  lay  down  sick  and  alone,  when  she  was  suddenly 
accosted  b^r  a  man  clad  in  green  clothes,  who  told  her  if  she 
Avould  be  faithful,  he  would  do  her  good.  She  was  at  first  ter¬ 
rified,  and  ciied  for  help,  but  no  one  hearing  her,  she  addressed 
him  in  Gods  name,  upon  which  he  immediately  disappeared. 
But  he  soon  afterward  appeared  to  her  again,  accompanied  with 
many  men  and  women,  and  she  was  obliged  to  go  with  them, 
and  they  had  with  them  “  piping  and  merriment,  and  good 
cheei  ,  and  she  was  thus  carried  to  Lothian,  where  they  found 
puncheons  ot  wine  with  drinking-cups.  From  this  time  she 
constantly  haunted  the  company  of  the  “  good  neighbors” 
(laities),  and  the  queen  of  Elfen,  at  whose  court  she  was  a 
frequent  visiter,  and  she  boasted  that  she  had  many  friends  there, 
among  whom  was  the  aforesaid  William  Sympsoune,  who  was 
most  familiar  vv  it h  her,  and  from  whom  chiefly  she  derived  her 
skill  in  curing  diseases.  She  declared  that  her  familiarity  with 
the  fairies  was  so  great,  that  she  was  allowed  to  see  them  “  make 
their  salves  with  pans  and  fires,  and  that  they  gathered  their 
herbs  before  sun-rising,  as  she  did.”  The  archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews,  a  scholar  and  profound  divine,  had  condescended  to 
seek  the  assistance  of  this  woman  in  a  dangerous  illness,  for 
which  he  was  made  an  object  of  severe  satire  by  his  political 
enemies  ,  she  caused  him  to  eat  a  sodden  fowl,  and  take  a  quart 
of  claret  wine  mixed  with  her  drugs,  which  the  worthy  prelate 
drank  off  at  two  draughts  !  Alison,  in  the  course  of  her  exam¬ 
ination,  gave  many  curious  anecdotes  of  the  fairy  people,  with 


108 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


whom  she  was  sometimes  on  better  terms  than  at  others  ;  among 
them  she  saw  several  of  her  acquaintance,  who  had  been  carried 
to  Elfland,  when  their  friends  imagined  they  were  dead  and 
gone  to  heaven  ;  and  she  learned  from  her  kinsman,  Sympsoune, 
that  a  tithe  of  them  was  yearly  given  up  to  hell,  and  had  been 
warned  by  him  from  time  to  time  not  to  go  with  them  at  certain 
periods,  lest  she  should  be  made  one  of  the  number.  This  wo¬ 
man  also  was  convicted  and  burnt  ( convicta  et  combustci). 

The  next  case,  or  rather  two  cases,  of  witchcraft  in  the  Scot¬ 
tish  annals,  is  of  a  more  fearful  and  more  criminal  character  than 
either  of  the  preceding.  The  chief  persons  implicated  were 
Katherine  Munro  lady  Fowlis,  wife  of  the  chief  of  the  clan  of 
Munro,  and  Hector  Munro,  the  son  of  the  baron  of  Fowlis  by  a 
former  wife.  The  lady  Fowlis  was  by  birth  Katharine  Ross  of 
Balnagown  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  family  quarrels  and  intrigues, 
she  had  laid  a  plot  to  make  away  with  Robert  Munro,  her  hus¬ 
band’s  eldest  son,  in  order  that  his  widow  might  be  married  to 
her  brother,  George  Ross,  laird  of  Balnagown,  preparatory  to 
which  it  was  also  necessary  to  effect  the  death  of  the  young  lady 
Balnagown.  The  open  manner  in  which  the  proceedings  of 
lady  Fowlis  were  carried  on,  affords  a  remarkable  picture  of  the 
barbarous  state  of  society  among  the  Scottish  clans  at  this  pe¬ 
riod.  Among  her  chief  agents  were  Agnes  Roy,  Christiane 
Ross,  and  Marjory  Neyne  Mac  Allester,  the  latter  better  known 
by  the  name  of  Loskie  Loncart,  and  all  three  described  as  “  no¬ 
torious  witches;”  another  active  individual  was  named  William 
Mac  Gillevordame  ;  and  there  were  a  number  of  other  subordi¬ 
nate  persons  of  very  equivocal  characters.  As  early  as  the  mid¬ 
summer  of  157G,  it  appears  from  the  trial  that  Agnes  Roy  was 
sent  to  bring  Loskie  Loncart  to  consult  with  lady  Fowlis,  who 
was  advised  “to  go  into  the  hills  to  speak  with  the  Elf-lolk,” 
and  learn  from  them  if  Robert  Munro  and  lady  Balnagown 
would  die,  and  if  the  laird  of  Balnagown  would  marry  Robert’s 
widow;  and  about  the  same  time,  these  two  women  made  clay 
images  of  the  two  individuals  who  were  to  die,  for  the  purpose 
of  bewitching  them.  Poison  was  also  adopted  as  a  surer  means 
of  securing  their  victims,  and  the  cook  of  the  laird  of  Balnagown 
was  bribed  to  their  interests.  The  deadly  ingredients  were  ob¬ 
tained  by  William  Mac  Gillevordame,  at  Aberdeen,  under  pre¬ 
tence  of  buying  poison  for  rats  ;  it  was  administered  by  the  cook 
just  mentioned,  in  a  dish  sent  to  the  lady  Balnagown’s  table,  and 
another  accomplice,  who  was  present,  declared  “  that  it  was  the 
sairest  and  maist  cruell  siclit  that  evir  scho  saw,  seing  the  vomit 


LADY  FOWLIS  AND  ROBERT  MUNRO. 


109 


and  vexacioun  tliat  was  on  the  young  lady  Balnagown  and  hir 
company.”  However,  although  the  victim  was  thrown  into  a 
miserable  and  long-lasting  illness,  the  poison  did  not  produce 
immediate  death,  as  was  expected.  From  various  points  in  the 
accusation,  it  appears  that  the  conspirators  were  actively  em¬ 
ployed  in  devising  means  of  effecting  their  purpose  from  the  pe¬ 
riod  mentioned  above  till  the  Easter  of  the  following  year,  by 
which  time  the  deadly  designs  of  the  lady  Fowlis  had  become 
much  more  comprehensive,  and  she  aimed  at  no  less  than  the 
destruction  of  all  the  former  family  of  her  husband,  that  their  in¬ 
heritance  might  fall  to  her  own  children.  In  May,  1577,  Wil¬ 
liam  Mac  Gillevordame  was  asked  to  procure  a  greater  quantity 
of  poison,  the  preceding  dose  having  been  insufficient ;  but  he  re¬ 
fused,  unless  her  brother,  the  laird  of  Balnagown,  were  made 
privy  to  it ;  a  difficulty  which  was  soon  got  over,  and  it  appears 
that  the  laird  was,  to  a  certain  degree,  acquainted  with  their  pro¬ 
ceedings.  A  potion  of  a  much  more  deadly  character  was  now 
prepared,  and  twTo  individuals,  the  nurse  of  the  lady  Fowlis  and 
a  boy,  were  killed  by  accidentally  tasting  of  it ;  but  we  are  not 
told  if  any  of  the  intended  victims  fell  a  sacrifice.  The  con¬ 
spirators  had  now  recourse  again  to  witchcraft,  and  in  the  June 
of  1577,  a  man  obtained  for  the  lady  Fowlis  an  “  elf  arrow-head,” 
for  which  she  gave  him  four  shillings.  The  “  elf  arrow-head” 
was  nothing  more  than  one  of  those  small  rude  weapons  of  flint, 
belonging  to  a  primeval  state  of  society,  which  are  often  met 
with  in  turning  up  the  soil,  and  which  the  superstitious  peasantry 
of  various  countries  have  looked  upon  as  the  offensive  arms  of 
fairies  and  witches.  On  the  2d  and  6th  of  July,  lady  Fowlis  and 
her  accomplices  held  two  secret  meetings  ;  at  the  first  they  made 
an  image  of  butter,  to  represent  Robert  Munro,  and  having  placed 
it  against  the  wall  of  the  chamber,  Loskie  Loncart  shot  at  it 
eight  times  with  the  elf  arrow-head,  but  always  missed  it ;  and 
at  the  second  meeting  they  made  a  figure  of  clay  to  represent  the 
same  person,  at  which  Loskie  shot  twelve  times,  but  with  no  bet¬ 
ter  success,  in  spite  of  all  their  incantations.  This  seems  to 
have  been  a  source  of  great  disappointment,  for  they  had  brought 
fine  linen  cloth,  in  which  the  figures,  if  struck  by  the  elf  arrow¬ 
head,  were  to  have  been  wrapped,  and  so  buried  in  the  earth  at 
a  place  which  seems  to  have  been  consecrated  by  superstitious 
feeling,  and  this  ceremony  was  to  have  insured  Robert  Mun- 
ro’s  death.  In  August,  another  elf  arrow-head  was  obtained,  and 
toward  Hallowmass  another  meeting  was  held,  and  two  figures 
of  clay  made  one  for  Robert  Munro  and  the  other  for  the  lady  ; 

10 


110 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


lady  Fowlis  shot  two  shots  at  lady  Balnagown,  and  Loskie  Lon- 
cart  shot  three  at  Robert  Munro,  but  neither  of  them  were  suc¬ 
cessful,  and  the  two  images  were  accidentally  broken,  and  thus 
the  charm  was  destroyed.  They  now  prepared  to  try  poison 
again,  but  Christiane  Ross,  who  had  been  present  at  the  last 
meeting,  was  arrested  toward  the  end  of  November,  and,  being 
put  to  the  torture,  made  a  full  confession,  which  was  followed  by 
the  seizure  of  some  of  her  accomplices,  several  of  whom,  as  well 
as  Christiane  Ross,  were  “  convicted  and  burnt.”  The  lady 
Fowlis  lied  to  Caithness  and  remained  there  nine  months,  after 
which  she  was  allowed  to  return  home.  Her  husband  died  in 
1588,  and  was  succeeded  by  Robert  Munro,  who  appears  to 
have  revived  the  old  charge  of  witchcraft  against  his  stepmother  ; 
for  in  1589  he  obtained  a  commission  for  the  examination  of 
witches,  among  whose  names  were  those  of  Lady  Fowlis  and 
some  of  her  surviving  accomplices.  She  appears  to  have  ward¬ 
ed  off  the  danger  by  her  influence  and  money  for  some  months, 
until  July  22,  1590,  when  she  was  brought  to  her  trial,  her  ac¬ 
cuser  being  Hector  Munro.  This  trial  offered  one  of  the  first 
instances  of  acquittal  of  the  charge  of  sorcery,  and  it  has  been 
observed  that  there  are  reasons  for  thinking  the  case  was 
brought  before  a  jury  packed  for  that  purpose. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  while  the  lady  Fowlis  was 
thus  attempting  the  destruction  of  her  step-children,  they  were 
trying  to  effect,  by  the  same  means,  the  death  of  her  own  son. 
Immediately  after  her  acquittal,  on  the  same  day,  the  22d  of 
July,  1590,  Hector  Munro  (her  accuser)  was  put  on  his  trial  be- 
for  a  jury  composed  of  nearly  the  same  persons,  for  practising 
the  same  crime  of  sorcery.  It  is  stated  in  the  charge  that,  when 
his  brother  Robert  Munro  had  been  grievously  ill  in  the  summar 
of  1588,  Hector  Munro  had  assembled  “three  notorious  and 
common  witches,”  to  devise  means  to  cure  him,  and  had  given 
harbor  to  them  several  days,  until  he  was  compelled  to  dismiss 
them  by  his  father,  who  threatened  to  apprehend  them.  Subse¬ 
quent  to  this,  in  January,  1588  (that  is  1589  according  to  the 
modern  reckoning),  Hector  became  suddenly  ill,  upon  which  he 
sent  one  of  his  men  to  seek  a  woman  named  Marion  Mac  lima- 

O 

ruch,  “  ane  of  the  maist  notorious  and  rank  witches  in  all  this 
realme,”  and  she  was  brought  to  the  house  in  which  he  was 
lying  sick.  After  long  consultation,  and  having  given  him 
“  three  drinks  of  water  out  of  three  stones  which  she  had,”  she 
declared  that  there  was  no  remedy  for  him,  unless  the  principal 
man  of  his  blood  should  suffer  death  for  him.  They  then  held 


WIER1)  PRACTICES  OF  THE  MUNROS. 


Ill 


further  counsel,  and  came  at  last  to  the  conclusion  that  the  per¬ 
son  who  must  thus  be  his  substitute  was  George  Munro,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  lady  Fowl  is,  whose  trial  has  just  been  de¬ 
scribed.  The  ceremonies  which  followed  are  some  of  the  most 
extraordinary  in  the  whole  range  of  the  history  of  these  dark 
superstitions.  Messengers  were  sent  out  to  seek  George  Munro, 
the  intended  victim,  in  every  direction,  and  he,  “  as  a  loving 
brother,”  suspecting  no  evil,  came  to  where  Hector  lay,  on  the 
fifth  day.  By  the  express  direction  of  the  witch,  the  latter  was 
to  allow  none  to  enter  the  house  until  after  his  brother’s  arrival ; 
he  was  to  receive  his  brother  in  silence,  give  him  his  left  hand 
and  take  him  by  the  right  hand,  and  not  speak  till  he  had  first 
spoken  to  him.  Hector  Munro  followed  these  instructions  to 
the  letter;  George  Munro  was  astonished  at  the  coldness  of  his 
reception,  compared  with  the  pressing  manner  in  which  he  had 
been  invited,  and  he  remained  in  the  room  an  hour  before  he 
littered  a  word.  George  at  last  asked  him  how  he  did,  to  which 
Hector  replied,  “  The  better  that  you  have  come  to  visit  me,” 
and  then  relapsed  into  his  former  silence.  This,  it  appears, 
was  a  part  of  the  spell.  At  one  o’clock  the  same  night,  Marion 
Mac  Ingaruch,  the  presiding  sorceress,  with  certain  of  her  ac¬ 
complices,  provided  themselves  with  spades,  and  went  to  a 
piece  Of  earth  at  the  seaside,  lying  between  the  boundaries  of 
the  lands  of  two  proprietors,  and  dug  a  grave  proportionate  to 
the  size  of  the  sick  man,  and  took  olf  the  sod.  She  then  re¬ 
turned  to  the  house,  and  carefully  instructed  each  of  the  persons 
concerned  in  the  part  they  were  to  perform  in  the  ceremonies 
which  were  to  transfer  the  fate  of  Hector  Munro  to  his  brother 
George. 

The  friends  of  Hector,  who  were  in  the  secret,  represented  that 
if  George  should  die  suddenly,  suspicion  would  fall  upon  them 
all,  and  their  lives  would  be  in  danger,  and  wished  her  to  delay 
his  death  “  a  space  and  she  took  on  hand  to  “  warrant  him  unto 
the  17th  day  of  April  next  thereafter.”  They  then  took  the  sick 
man  from  his  bed,  and  carried  him  in  a  pair  of  blankets  to  the 
grave,  the  assistants  being  forbidden  to  utter  a  word  until  the 
witch  and  his  foster-mother,  named  Christiana  Neill  Dayzill,  had 
first  spoken  with  “  their  master,  the  devil.”  Hector  was  then 
placed  in  the  grave,  and  the  green  sod  laid  over  him,  and  held 
down  upon  him  with  staves,  and  the  chief  witch  took  her  stand 
beside  him.  The  foster-mother,  leading  a  young  lad  by  the  hand, 
then  ran  the  breadth  of  nine  ridges,  and  on  her  return  inquired 
of  the  hag  “  which  was  her  choice to  which  she  replied  that 


112 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


“  Hector  was  her  choice  to  live,  and  his  brother  George  to  die 
for  him.”  This  strange  form  of  incantation  was  repeated  thrice, 
and  then  the  patient  was  taken  from  the  grave,  and  carried  home 
to  his  bed  in  the  same  silence  which  had  distinguished  the  first 
part  of  the  ceremony.  The  effects  of  an  exposure  to  the  cold 
of  a  January  night  in  the. north,  on  a  sick  man,  must  have  been 
very  serious  ;  but  Hector  recovered  soon  afterward,  and  in  the 
month  of  April,  as  foretold,  George  Munro  was  seized  with  a 
mortal  disease,  under  which  he  lingered  till  the  month  of  June, 
when  he  died.  Hector  Munro  took  the  witch  into  great  favor, 
carried  her  to  the  house  of  his  uncle  at  “  Kildrummadyis,”  where 
she  was  “  entertained  as  if  she  had  been  his  spouse,  and  gave 
her  such  pre-eminence  in  the  country  that  there  was  none  that 
durst  offend  her,  and  gave  her  the  keeping  of  his  sheep,  to  color 
the  matter.”  After  the  death  of  George,  the  affair  was  whispered 
abroad,  and  an  order  was  issued  for  the  arrest  of  the  witch,  but 
she  was  concealed  by  Hector  Munro,  until  information  was 
given  by  Lady  Fowlis,  that  she  was  in  the  house  at  Fowlis. 
When  subjected  to  an  examination,  and  no  doubt  to  the  torture, 
she  made  a  confession,  and  was  publicly  burnt.  Her  confession 
was  the  ground  of  the  charge  against  Hector  Munro,  who,  like 
his  step-mother,  was  acquitted. 

The  trials  of  Lady  Fowlis  and  Hector  Munro,  appear  to  have 
caused  much  excitement,  and  other  cases  of  witchcraft  followed 
with  fearful  rapidity  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  to  such  a 
degree  that  they  moved  the  learned  superstition  of  the  king,  who 
from  this  period  began  to  take  an  extraordinary  interest  in  prose¬ 
cutions  for  crimes  of  this  description.  King  James’s  example 
was  not  lost  upon  his  subjects,  and  not  only  did  they  show  re¬ 
doubled  diligence  in  seeking  out  offenders,  but  probably  cases 
were  made  up  to  gratify  his  curiosity,  until  a  fearful  conspiracy 
between  the  hags  and  the  evil  one  was  discovered,  of  which  the 
king  was  to  have  been  the  chief  victim,  and  which  will  be  rela¬ 
ted  at  full  in  our  next  chapter.  The  interference  of  King  James 
not  only  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  sorcery  in  Scotland, 
but  it  had  also  an  influence  in  modifying  the  belief  by  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  the  scientific  demonology  of  France  and  Germany. 
In  the  conspiracy  to  which  I  have  just  alluded,  we  shall  see 
many  foreign  notions  mixed  with  the  native  superstitions. 

For  two  or  three  subsequent  years,  the  records  of  the  high 
court  are  unfortunately  missing,  but  in  159ff,  we  find  several 
prosecutions  for  the  practice  of  witchcraft,  of  which  persons  of 
high  rank  believed  themselves,  or  were  believed  to  be,  the  vie- 


THE  WITCHES  OF  HADDINGTON. 


113 


tims.  On  the  24th  of  June,  John  Stewart,  the  master  of  Ork¬ 
ney,  was  accused,  on  the  confession  of  certain  witches  who  had 
previously  been  condemned  and  burnt,  of  having  employed  them 
to  compass  the  death  of  Patrick,  earl  of  Orkney  ;  but  he  alleged 
in  his  defence  that  the  confessions  had  been  extorted  by  extreme 
torture,  and  had  afterward  been  contradicted  by  the  sufferers  as 
they  were  carried  to  the  stake,  and  he  was  acquitted  by  the  jury. 
On  the  30t.h  of  October,  a  woman  named  Alison  Jollie  was  tried 
for  the  same  crime  of  employing  a  witch  to  cause  the  death  of  a 
woman  with  whom  she  had  quarrelled,  grounded  on  the  confession 
ot  the  witch,  and  was  also  acquitted.  Another  woman,  named 
Christian  Stewart,  tried  on  the  27th  of  November,  for  compas¬ 
sing  the  death  of  one  of  the  powerful  family  of  the  Ruthvens  by 
witchcraft,  was  less  fortunate,  for  she  was  judged  “  to  be  tane  to 
the  castle  hill,  and  thair  to  be  burnt.” 

In  1597,  we  have  another  case  bearing  some  resemblance  to 
those  of  Bessie  Dunlop  and  Alison  Peirsoun.  The  healing  art 
had  been,  during  the  middle  ages,  practised  by  all  sorts  of  quacks 
and  unskilful  pretenders,  who  made  use  of  certain  preparations 
of  herbs  and  some  other  ingredients,  but  depended  more  for  their 
success  on  the  superstitious  observances  with  which  they  were 
gathered,  prepared,  or  applied.  In  order  to  gain  more  credit  for 
their  remedies,  they  pretended  to  receive  their  knowledge  from 
an  intercourse  Avith  the  spiritual  world.  It  was  a  part  of  the  ed¬ 
ucation  of  every  good  housewife  in  former  days  to  understand 
the  use  of  medicines,  and  most  women  were,  more  or  less,  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  mode  of  preparing  them.  Most  of  the  reme¬ 
dies  which  are  mentioned  in  the  trials  as  used  by  Bessie  Dun¬ 
lop,  Alison  Peirsoun,  and  others,  are  found  in  the  old  medieval 
receipt-books.  On  the  12th  of  November,  in  the  year  last  men¬ 
tioned,  four  miserable  women,  Janet  Stewart,  Christian  Lewing- 
stoun,  Bessie  Aiken,  and  Christian  Saidler,  were  brought  to  their 
trial  for  various  alleged  acts  of  witchcraft.  Christian  Lewing- 
stoun  was  accused  of  having  bewitched  a  baker  of  Haddington, 
by  burying  a  small  bag  full  of  worsted  thread,  haixs,  and  nails  of 
men,  and  other  articles,  under  his  stairs,  then  pretending  that  the 
witchcraft  was  the  work  of  another,  and  undertaking  to  relieve 
him  from  it.  In  this  we  can  see  little  more  than  a  dishonest  trick 
to  extort  money  ;  but  she  pretended  to  further  knowledge,  and 
the  baker's  wife  being  with  child  at  the  time,  she  told  her  that 
she  would  give  birth  to  a  boy  which  happened  accordingly. 
When  asked  whence  she  derived  her  knowledge,  she  said  that 
she  had  a  daughter  who  was  carried  away  by  the  “  fairy  folk,” 


114 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  from  her  she  had  her  knowledge.  She  was  accused  after 
this,  with  the  other  women  as  accomplices,  of  the  superstitious 
treatment  of  various  sick  persons,  besides  some  other  transac¬ 
tions  not  more  honest  than  her  treatment  of  the  baker  of  Had¬ 
dington.  Janet  Stewart  was  on  one  occasion,  called  to  a  wo¬ 
man  who  was  “  deadly  sick  she  took  off  the  sick  woman’s  shirt 
and  her  “  mutche”  (cap),  and  carried  them  to  a  stream  which  ran 
toward  the  south,  and  washed  them  in  it,  and  made  the  patient 
put  them  on  dripping  wet,  and  said  thrice  over  her,  “  In  the  name 
of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,”  and  then  put  a 
red-hot  iron  in  the  water,  and  then  burnt  straw  at  each  “  newke” 
of  the  bed.  This  was  a  primitive  sort  of  “  cold-water  cure.” 
She  healed  several  women  of  another  disease,  by  passing  them 
thrice  through  a  garland  of  green  woodbine,  which  she  afterward 
cut  in  nine  pieces,  and  cast  in  the  fire.  Woodbine  appears  to 
have  been  a  favorite  remedy  in  a  variety  of  cases.  Bessie  Aiken 
cured  most  of  her  patients  by  passing  them  nine  times  through  a 
“  girth”  of  woodbine,  in  the  name  of  the  three  persons  of  the 
Holy  Trinity.  For  a  woman  laboring  under  a  pain  in  the  loins, 
she  took  a  decoction  of  red  nettles  and  herb  Alexander,  and  bathed 
the  part  with  it,  and  then  boiled  herb  Alexander  with  fresh  but¬ 
ter,  and  rubbed  her  with  it,  and  then  passed  her  nine  times 
through  the  girth  of  woodbine,  at  three  several  times,  a  space  of 
twenty-four' hours  being  allowed  to  elapse  between  each.  Other 
similar  practices  are  recounted;  and  the  four  women  were  final¬ 
ly  condemned  to  be  taken  to  the  castle  hill  at  Edinburgh,  and 
there  to  be  strangled  at  a  stake  till  they  died,  and  their  bodies  to 
be  burnt  to  ashes  ;  a  sentence  which  was  duly  executed  on  three 
of  them.  But  Bessie  Aiken  pleaded  that  she  was  with  child,  and 
she  was  allowed  to  languish  in  prison  until  the  15th  of  August, 
1598,  when  the  king,  moved  with,  for  him,  an  unusual  degree  of 
clemency,  in  consideration  that  she  was  “  delyverit  of  ane  in¬ 
fant,  and  hes  sustenit  lang  puneischment  be  famine  and  impreis- 
ment,”  commuted  her  original  sentence  for  perpetual  banishment. 

We  have  thus  traced  the  history  of  witchcraft  in  Scotland  to 
the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  down  to  which  time  it  had 
preserved  its  national  character,  altogether  differing  from  the  su¬ 
perstitions  which  prevailed  on  the  continent  in  the  same  age.  In 
Scotland,  witchcraft  was  an  object  of  more  universal  and  unhes¬ 
itating  belief  than  in  almost  any  other  country,  and  it  obtained 
greater  authority  from  the  circumstance  that  so  many  people  of 
rank  at  different  periods  had  recourse  to  it  as  a  means  of  gratify¬ 
ing  revenge  or  ambition.  There  were  sorcerers  among  the  mi- 


KING  JAMES  AND  THE  WITCHES  OF  LOTHIAN.  115 


nor  agents  in  the  mysterious  conspiracies  of  the  earl  of  Gowry, 
which  have  given  such  celebrity  in  Scottish  history  to  the  last 
year  of  the  century.  The  narrative  which  will  occupy  our  next 
chapter,  will  exhibit  in  a  remarkable  manner  the  sentiments  of 
King  James,  who  appears  to  have  carried  his  hatred  of  witches 
with  him  into  England,  and  with  his  reign  in  the  latter  country 
began  the  darkest  period  of  the  history  of  witchcraft  in  the  south¬ 
ern  parts  of  the  island.  In  a  future  chapter,  we  shall  have  to  re¬ 
turn  to  the  superstitions  of  Scotland,  which  took  a  still  wider  and 
more  fearful  form  in  the  seventeenth  century,  when  they  were 
beginning  to  subside  in  other  countries. 


CHAPTER  X. 

KING  JAMES  AND  THE  WITCHES  OF  LOTHIAN. 

In  the  yeaj*  1589,  surrounded  by  political  jealousies  abroad, 
and  harassed  by  the  turbulence  of  his  subjects  at  home,  James 
VI.  of  Scotland  came  to  the  resolution  of  marrying  Anne  of 
Denmark,  and  the  earl-marshal  left  Scotland  on  the  18th  of  June 
on  a  mission  to  Copenhagen,  to  arrange  the  contract.  In  July, 
the  marriage  was  celebrated  by  proxy,  and  in  September,  the  new 
queen  of  Scotland  left  her  father’s  court,  and  embarked  with  the 
earl-marshal  and  his  suite  for  her  adopted  country ;  but  they  had 
hardly  left  the  port  when  they  were  assailed  by  a  tempest,  which 
carried  them  so  far  from  their  course  that  they  with  difficulty 
reached  Upsal  in  Norway,  where  a  continuance  of  tempestuous 
Aveather  threatened  to  detain  them  till  the  setting  in  of  winter. 
King  James,  impatient  of  delay,  summoned  up  more  courage  than 
he  had  ever  shown  before,  and  on  the  22d  of  October,  set  off  in 
search  of  his  wife,  whom  he  found  still  at  Upsal  where  they 
were  again  married,  and  with  whom  he  returned  to  Copenhagen, 
and  remained  there  during  the  winter.  On  the  reappearance 
of  spring  he  left  Denmark,  and  after  a  rough  voyage,  landed  with 
his  queen  at  Leith,  on  the  1st  of  May,  1590. 

The  obstinate  hostility  of  the  weather  toward  James  and  his 
new  consort  coinciding  with  political  hatred  among  a  portion  of 
his  subjects,  gave  rise  to  strange  reports,  and  at  last  a  conspiracy 
of  an  unearthly  character  was  brought  to  light,  by  the  agency  of 
which  it  was  universally  believed  that  the  royal  seafarer  had 


116 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


been  persecuted.  The  earl  of  Bothwell,  the  especial  organ  of 
the  Romish  party,  was  said  to  have  been  its  instigator,  and  on 
this  and  other  charges  he  was  committed  to  ward,  from  which 
he  broke  toward  the  end  of  June,  1591,  and  took  refuge  among 
his  friends  in  the  more  inaccessible  parts  of  the  north.  He  was 
himself  believed  to  be  a  skilful  necromancer,  and  held  frequent 
communication  with  witches. 

The  manner  in  which  this  extraordinary  affair  was  discovered 
is  involved  in  some  obscurity ;  but,  according  to  the  common 
story,  the  first  divulger  of  the  secret  was  a  young  woman  named 
Geillis  Duncan.  This  woman  was  servant  in  the  house  of  Da¬ 
vid  Seytoun,  deputy-bailiff  of  the  little  town  of  Tranent,  on  the 
shores  of  the  frith  of  Forth,  about  nine  miles  to  the  east  of 
Edinburgh ;  and  on  a  sudden  she  became  celebrated  for  her  ex¬ 
traordinary  skill  in  curing  diseases,  and  for  doing  other  things 
which  gave  rise  to  the  belief  that  the  agency  by  which  she 
worked  was  something  more  than  natural.  Her  master’s  sus¬ 
picions  on  this  subject  were  strengthened  by  the  discovery,  that 
Geillis  was  in  the  habit  of  secretly  leaving  the  house  and  absent¬ 
ing  herself  every  other  night.  He  thereupon  questioned  her  in 
private,  but  obtaining  no  satisfactory  answer,  he  presumed  so  far 
upon  his  municipal  office,  as  to  call  in  some  of  his  acquaintance, 
and  in  their  presence  put  her  to  most  severe  tortures.  But  even 
this  had  no  effect ;  and  they  then  examined  every  part  of  her  body 
in  order  to  discover  the  devil’s  mark.  For  it  was  one  article  of  the 
belief  in  witchcraft,  that,  after  the  compact  between  the  witch  and 
the  evil  one  had  been  completed,  the  latter  sucked  some  part  of 
his  victim’s  body,  and  left  his  mark,  and  until  this  mark  was  dis¬ 
covered,  his  influence  was  unabated,  and  he  hindered  confession. 
The  mark  was  most  commonly  placed  on  a  part  covered  with 
hair,  that  it  might  be  more  easily  concealed  :  and  hence  one  of 
the  first  processes  in  the  examination  of  a  witch  was  one  most 
shocking  to  her  feelings  of  modesty,  that  of  shaving  her  body. 
In  the  case  of  Geillis  Duncan,  the  fiend’s  mark  was  found  in  the 
fore-part  of  her  throat,  upon  which  she  confessed  that  she  effected 
her  cures  by  means  of  witchcraft.  She  was  now  committed  to 
prison,  and,  after  a  short  confinement,  made  a  more  full  confes¬ 
sion,  which  implicated  a  number  of  persons  living  in  different 
parts  of  the  district  of  Lothian,  and  led  to  the  arrest  of  not  less 
than  thirty  presumed  sorcerers,  whose  examinations  brought  to 
light  the  conspiracy  above  alluded  to.  The  more  remai'kable  of 
the  persons  thus  placed  unifer  arrest  were  Dr.  Fian,  otherwise 
named  John  Cunningham,  Agnes  Sampsoun,  Euphame  Mackal- 


DR.  FI  AN. 


117 


zeane,  and  Barbara  Napier.  In  the  account  which  these  persons 
gave  of  their  communications  with  the  tempter,  we  find  many 
incidents  apparently  new  to  the  popular  mythology  of  Scotland, 
but  which  recur  over  and  over  again  in  the  witchcraft  stories  of 
later  days. 

John  Fian,  one  of  the  chief  persons  compromised  by  Geillis 
Duncan’s  confession,  was  a  schoolmaster  of  Tranent,  a  man  above 
the  ordinary  stamp  of  sorcerers  at  this  period,  who  appears,  at 
the  time  of  these  transactions,  to  have  taken  up  his  residence  in 
the  neighboring  township  of  Preston-Pans,  the  same  place  which 
obtained  so  much  celebrity  in  later  Scottish  history.  Dr.  Fian 
gave  the  following  account  of  the  origin  of  his  acquaintance  with 
the  devil.  He  lodged  at  Tranent,  in  the  house  of  one  Thomas  Trum- 
bill,  who  had  given  him  great  offence  by  neglecting  to  “  sparge,”  or 
whitewash,  his  chamber,  as  he  had  promised  ;  Fian  was  lying  in 
his  bed,  “  musing  and  thinking  how  he  might  be  revenged  of  the 
said  'I  homas,”  when  the  devil  suddenly  made  his  appearance, 
clad  in  white  raiment,  and  said  to  him,  “  Will  ye  be  my  servant, 
and  adore  me  and  all  my  servants,  and  ye  shall  never  want  ?” 

'1  he  doctor  assented  to  the  terms,  and,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  evil  one,  he  revenged  himself  on  Trumbill  by  burning  his 
house.  The  second  night  the  devil  again  appeared  to  him  in 
white  raiment,  and  put  his  mark  upon  him  with  a  rod.  Subse¬ 
quently,  Fian  was  found  in  his  chamber,  as  it  were,  in  a  trance, 
during  which  he  said  that  his  spirit  was  carried  over  many 
mountains,”  and  as  it  appeared  all  over  the  world.  From  this 
time  he  was  present  at  all  the  nightly  conventions  held  in  the 
district  of  Lothian,  and  rose  so  high  in  Satan’s  favor,  that  the 
fiend  appointed  him  his  “  registrar  and  secretary.”  His  first 
visit  to  these  conventions  was  at  the  church  at  North  Berwick, 
about  fourteen  miles  along  the  coast  from  Preston-Pans,  a  favor¬ 
ite  meeting-place  of  the  witches.  He  was  transported  thither 
from  his  bed  at  Preston-Pans,  “  as  if  he  had  been  skimming 
across  the  earth and  he  found  a  number  of  Satan’s  “  servants,” 
with  a  candle  burning  blue  in  the  middle  of  them.  Their  master 
stood  in  a  pulpit  “  making  a  sermon  of  doubtful  speeches,”  the 
effect  of  which  was  that  they  were  not  to  fear  him,  “  though  he 
were  grim”  (he  seems  to  have  appeared  in  a  different  character 
from  that  in  which  he  first -presented  himself  to  Fian);  telling 
them  that  “  he  had  many  servants,  who  should  never  want,  and 
should  ail  nothing,  so  long  as  their  hairs  were  on,  and  that  they 
should  never  let  any  tears  fall  from  their  eyes.”  It  was  a  common 
article  of  belief  that  witches  could  not  shed  tears  He  further  ex- 


118 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


hortecl  them  that  “  they  should  spare  not  to  do  evil,  and  to  eat, 
drink,  and  be  blithe  and  he  made  them  do  him  homage  by  kiss¬ 
ing  his  posteriors.  Fian  appears  to  have  been  an  ill-disposed 
person,  and  well  inclined  to  put  in  practice  Satan’s  exhortations. 
The  power  which  he  obtained  by  his  connection  with  the  tempt¬ 
er,  was  always  employed  to  work  mischief,  or  for  the  indulgence 
of  his  wicked  passions.  He  confessed  on  his  trial  that  he  had 
seduced  a  widow  named  Margaret  Spens,  under  promise  of  mar¬ 
riage,  and  then  deserted  her.  He  was  popularly  accused  of 
having  attempted  to  force  to  his  will  a  virtuous  maiden,  the  sister 
of  one  of  his  scholars,  by  charms  which  can  not  well  be  described 
here,  but  which  were  thwarted  by  the  ingenuity  of  her  mother, 
and  made  to  throw  disgrace  on  the  designing  sorcerer.  While 
residing  at  Tranent,  Fian  one  night  supped  at  the  miller’s,  some 
distance  from  the  town,  and  as  it  was  late  before  he  left,  was 
conveyed  home  on  a  horse  by  one  of  the  miller’s  men  ;  it  being 
dark,  he  raised  up,  by  his  unearthly  agency,  four  candles  on  the 
horse’s  ears,  and  one  on  the  staff  which  his  companion  carried, 
which  were  so  bright  that  they  made  the  night  appear  as  light 
as  day  ;  but  the  man  was  terrified  to  such  a  degree,  that  on  his 
return  home  he  dropped  down  dead.  This  was  told  by  Fian 
himself  on  his  examination. 

Agnes  Sampsoun  acted  an  especially  prominent  part  in  these 
transactions.  She  is  described  in  the  indictment  as  residing  in 
Nether  Keith,  was  commonly  known  by  the  title  of  the  wise 
wife  of  Keith,  and  seems  to  have  used  her  art  chiefly  in  curing 
diseases,  although  she  was  accused  of  having  inflicted  serious 
injuries  on  those  who  provoked  her.  Archbishop  Spotswode  de¬ 
scribes  her  as  a  woman,  not  of  the  base  and  ignorant  sort  of 
witches,  but  matron-like,  grave,  and  settled  in  her  answers. 
Her  examination  was  long,  and  her  confession,  by  what  is  pre¬ 
served,  appears  to  have  been  the  wildest  and  most  extraordinary 
of  them  all ;  but  it  would  take  too  much  of  our  space  to  give  more 
than  a  sample  of  them. 

She  said  that  she  had  learned  her  art  of  knowing  and  healing 
diseases  from  her  father ;  that  the  first  time  she  began  to  serve 
the  devil  was  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  when  he  appeared 
to  her  in  the  likeness  of  a  man,  and  commanded  her  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  him  as  her  master,  and  to  renounce  Christ.  This  she 
agreed  to,  being  poor,  and  the  tempter  promising  her  riches  for 
herself  and  her  children.  He  generally  appeared  to  her  in  the 
likeness  of  a  dog,  of  which  she  asked  questions,  and  received 
answers.  On  one  occasion,  when  she  was  sent  for  to  the  old 


EUPHAME  MACKALZEANE. 


119 


lady  Edmestoune,  who  lay  sick,  she  went  into  the  garden  at 
night  and  called  the  devil  by  the  name  of  Elva,  who  came  in 
over  the  dike,  in  the  likeness  of  a  dog,  and  came  so  near  to  her 
that  she  was  frightened,  upon  which  she  charged  him,  “  on  the 
law  he  believed  on,”  to  come  no  nearer.  She  then  asked  him 
if  the  lady  would  recover,  and  he  told  her  that  “  her  days  were 
gone.”  He  then  asked  where  the  gentlewomen,  the  lady’s 
daughters,  were.  She  told  him  they  were  to  meet  her  there,  on 
which  he  said  that  he  would  have  one  of  them.  Agnes  said  that 
she  would  hinder  him,  on  which  he  went  away  howling,  and 
concealed  himself  in  the  w  ell,  where  he  remained  till  after  sup¬ 
per.  The  gentlewomen  came  into  the  garden  when  supper  was 
over,  whereupon  the  dog  rushed  out,  terrified  them  all,  and  seized 
one  of  the  daughters,  the  lady  Torsenye,  and  attempted  to  drag 
her  into  the  well  to  drown  her,  but  Agnes  also  seized  hold  of 
her,  and  proved  stronger  than  the  devil,  who  thereupon  disap¬ 
peared  with  a  terrible  howl.  On  another  occasion,  Agnes,  with 
Geillis  Duncan  and  other  witches,  wishing  to  be  revenged  on 
David  Seytoun  (Geillis  Duncan’s  master),  met  on  the  bridge  at 
Foulstruthir,  and  threw  a  cord  into  the  river,  and  Agnes  Samp- 
soun  cried,  “  Hail,  holoa !”  The  end  of  the  cord  which  was  in 
the  water  became  immediately  heavy,  and  when  they  drew  it 
out,  the  devil  came  up  at  the  end  of  it,  and  asked  if  they  had  all 
been  good  servants.  He  then  gave  them  a  charm,  which  was  to 
allect  David  Seytoun  and  his  goods,  but  it  was  accidentally 
averted,  and  fell  upon  another  person.  The  lady  of  whom  we 
are  now  speaking  seems  to  have  had  a  little  of  the  evil  one  in 
her,  for  she  sometimes  quarrelled  with  the  devil  himself. 

Euphame  (Euphemia)  Mackalzeane,  one  of  the  persons  most 
deeply  implicated  in  these  charges,  was  a  lady  of  rank  in  soci¬ 
ety,  the  only  daughter  and  heiress  of  Thomas  Mackalzeane  lord 
Cliftounhall,  one  of  the  senators  of  the  College  of  Justice,  a  dis¬ 
tinguished  scholar,  lawyer,  and  statesman.  She  appears  to  have 
been  led  into  associating  with  the  base  people  concerned  in  this 
conspiracy,  by  her  devotion  to  the  Romish  religion  and  to  the 
party  of  the  earl  of  Bothwell.  She  confessed  that  she  had  first 
been  made  a  witch  by  the  means  of  an  Irishwoman  “  with  a 
fallen  nose  and  that  to  make  herself  “  more  perfect  and*  well- 
skilled  in  the  said  art  of  witchcraft,”  she  had  caused  another 
witch,  dwelling  in  St.  Ninian’s  Row  (in  Edinburgh),  to  “  inau¬ 
gurate”  her  in  the  said  craft,  with  “  the  girth  of  ane  grit  bikar,” 
turning  the  same  “  oft  round  her  head  and  neck,  and  oft-times 
round  her  head.”  She  was  charged  with  having  procured  the 


120 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


deaths  of  her  husband,  her  father-in-law,  and  various  other  per¬ 
sons,  by  means  of  poison  and  sorcery.  She  had  become  ac¬ 
quainted  with  Agnes  Sampsoun  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  her 
first  son,  when  she  applied  to  her  to  ease  her  of  her  pains  in 
childbirth,  which  she  did  by  transferring  them  to  a  dog,  which 
ran  away,  and  was  never  heard  of  afterward.  At  the  birth  of 
her  second  son,  Agnes  Sampsoun  in  the  same  way  transferred 
her  pains  to  a  cat. 

Barbara  Napier  was  also  a  woman  of  some  rank  ;  but  the 
others  were  in  general  persons  of  very  low  condition.  A  man, 
nicknamed  Grey  Meill  (Gray  Meal)  whom  Spotswode  describes 
as  “  ane  auld  sely  pure  plowman,”  was  keeper  of  the  door  at 
their  conventions. 

The  extensive  scene  of  the  operations  of  this  society  em¬ 
braced  the  sea  as  well  as  the  land.  I  have  already  stated  that 
the  church  of  North  Berwick  was  their  favorite  place  of  meet¬ 
ing.  Agnes  Sampsoun  confessed  that,  one  Allhallow  Eve  “  shee 
wras  accompanied  with  a  great  many  other  witches,  to  the  num¬ 
ber  of  two  hundredth,  and  that  all  they  together  went  to  sea,  each  * 
one  in  a  riddle  or  cive,  and  went  into  the  same  very  substantial¬ 
ly,  with  flaggons  of  wine,  making  merrie  and  drinking  by  the 
way,  in  the  same  riddles  or  cives,to  the  kirke  of  North  Barrick, 
in  Lowthian  ;  and  that  after  they  had  landed,  took  handes  on  the 
lande,  and  daunced  this  reill  or  short  daunce,  singing  all  with 
one  voice, 

“ 1  Commer  goe  ye  before,  commer  goe  ye, 

Gif  ye  wall  not  goe  before,  commer  let  me.’ 

At  which  time  she  confessed  that  this  Geillis  Duncane  did  goe 
before  them,  playing  this  reill  or  daunce,  upon  a  small  trumpe, 
called  a  Jewes  trumpe,  until  they  entered  into  the  kirk  of  North 
Barrick.”  On  one  occasion,  Fian,  Agnes  Sampoun,  an  active 
wizard  named  Robert  Griersoun,  and  others,  left  Griersoun’s 
house,  at  Preston,  in  a  boat,  and  went  out  to  sea  to  a  “  tryst,” 
with  another  witch,  and  entered  a  ship,  and  had  “  good  wine 
and  ale”  therein,  after  which,  as  was  their  usual  custom,  they 
sank  the  ship  and  all  that  Avas  in  it,  and  returned  home.  On 
another  occasion,  as  Agnes  Sampsoun  confessed,  they  sailed  out 
from  North  Berwick  in  a  boat  like  a  chimney,  the  devil  passing 
before  them  like  a  rick  of  hay,  and  entered  a  ship  called  the 
“  Grace  of  God,”  where  they  had  abundance  of  wine  and  “  other 
good  cheer,”  and  when  they  came  away  the  fiend  raised  “  an 
evil  wind,”  he  being  under  the  ship,  and  caused  the  ship  to 
perish ;  and  Agnes  said  that  she  gave  on  this  occasion  twenty 


MEETING  OF  WITCHES. 


121 


shillings  to  Greg  Meill  lor  his  attendance,  which  would  seem 
to  imply  that  they  had  taken  the  ship’s  money.  On  one  of  their 
voyages,  in  the  summer  of  1589,  Dr.  Fian  stated  that  the  fiend 
informed  them  of  the  leak  which  subsequently  endangered  the 
queen’s  ship,  when  she  took  refuge  in  Norway.  Subsequent  to 
this,  when  the  queen  was  on  her  way  from  Denmark,  a  conven¬ 
tion  was  held  at  the  “  Brumehoillis,”  where  the  whole  party 
went  to  sea  in  riddles,  Robert  Griersoun,  above-mentioned,  be¬ 
ing  their  “  admiral  and  master-man,”  and  they  again  entered  a 
ship  and  made  merry ;  and  finished  by  throwing  a  dog  over¬ 
board,  which  not  only  made  the  ship  turn  over  and  sink,  but 
raised  a  storm  which  helped  to  drive  the  queen  back. 

This  latter  event,  however,  was  effected  by  more  imposing 
ceremonies.  A  meeting  was  held  in  a  Webster’s  house,  at  Pres- 
ton-Pans,  at  which  were  present  Agnes  Sampsoun,  John  Fian, 
Geillis  Duncan,  and  two  others,  who  “  baptized”  a  cat  in  a  man¬ 
ner  thus  described  in  the  confession  of  Agnes  Sampsoun : 
“  First,  two  of  them  held  one  finger  in  the  one  side  of  the  chim¬ 
ney-crook,  and  another  held  another  finger  in  the  other  side,  the 
two  nibs  of  the  fingers  meeting  together  ;  thus  they  put  the  cat 
thrice  through  the  links  of  the  crook,  and  passed  it  thrice  under 
the  chimney.”  They  subsequently  tied  to  the  four  feet  of  the 
cat  four  joints  of  dead  men  ;  and  it  was  then  carried  to  Leith, 
and  the  witches  took  it  to  the  pier-head  about  midnight,  and 
threw  it  into  the  sea.  Another  party  of  the  conspirators,  at 
Preston-Pans,  threw  another  cat  into  the  sea  at  eleven  o’clock  at 
night.  The  result  of  all  this  was  a  storm  so  dreadful,  that  the 
boat  between  Leith  and  Kinghorn  perished  with  all  on  board, 
amounting  to  three-score  persons. 

This  particular  quality  of  the  cats  for  raising  storms  is  not 
easily  accounted  for.  Dr.  Fian  was  accused  of  the  hunting  of 
a  cat  at  Tranent ;  in  which  hunt  he  was  carried  high  above  the 
ground,  with  great  swiftness,  and  as  lightly  as  the  cat  herself, 
over  “  a  higher  dyke  than  he  was  able  to  lay  his  hand  to  the 
head  of;”  and  when  asked  why  he  pursued  the  cat,  he  replied, 
that  at  a  convention  held  at  the  “  Brumehoillis,”  Satan  had  com¬ 
manded  all  that  were  present  to  catch  cats,  to  be  cast  into  the 
sea  for  the  purpose  of  raising  winds  for  the  destruction  of  ships. 
A  cat  was  subsequently  cast  into  the  sea  to  raise  winds  on  the 
king’s  passage  to  Denmark  ;  and  when  the  king  was  returning, 
another  convention  was  held,  at  which  Satan  promised  to  raise 
a  mist,  and  cast  the  king  into  England,  for  which  purpose  he 
threw  into  the  sea  a  thing  like  a  foot-ball,  in  the  presence  of 

11 


122 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Dr.  Fian,  who  saw  a  vapor  and  smoke  rise  from  the  spot  where 
it  touched  the  water. 

The  king  and  his  consort,  as  we  have  seen,  escaped  all  the 
perils  of  the  sea,  and  landed  safely  in  Scotland.  Satan  con¬ 
fessed  that  James  was  “  un  homme  de  Dieu,”  and  that  he  had 
little  power  over  him ;  but  after  his  return,  new  plans  were 
formed  for  the  king’s  destruction,  at  the  moment  when  Bothwell 
was  plotting  rebellion  against  bis  sovereign.  On  Lammas  Eve 
(July  31st),  1590,  nine  of  the  principal  sorcerers,  including  Dr. 
Fian,  Agnes  Sampsoun,  Euphame  Mackalzeane,  and  Barbara 
Napier,  with  others  to  the  number  of  thirty,  met  at  the  New 
Haven,  between  Mussilburgh  and  Preston-Pans,  at  a  spot  called 
the  “  Fayrie-hoillis,”  Avhen  the  devil  made  his  appearance  in 
the  form  of  a  black  man,  which  was  “  thought  most  meet  to  do 
the  turn  for  which  they  were  convened.”  When  they  had  all 
taken  the  places  assigned  to  them,  Agnes  Sampsoun  proposed 
that  they  should  consult  for  the  destruction  of  the  king.  The 
devil,  after  stating  that  their  designs  were  likely  to  be  thwarted, 
promised  them  a  picture  of  wax,  and  directed  them  to  hang,  up 
and  roast  a  toad,  and  lay  the  drippings  of  the  toad,  mixed  with 
“  strang  wash,”  an  adder’s  skin,  and  “  the  thing  in  the  forehead 
of  a  new-foaled  foal,”  in  the  way  where  the  king  was  to  pass,  or 
hang  it  in  a  position  Avhere  it  might  drop  on  his  body.  Agnes 
Sampsoun  was  appointed  to  make  the  figure,  which  she  did, 
and  gave  it  to  the  evil  one,  who  promised  to  prepare  it  and  de¬ 
liver  it  to  them  for  use  Avithin  a  short  time.  The  process  of  the 
toad  was  carried  into  effect,  and  the  dripping  Avas  to  have  fallen 
on  the  king  “  during  his  majesty’s  being  at  the  Brig  of  Die,  the 
day  before  the  common  bell  rang,  for  fear  -the  earl  Bothwell 
should  have  entered  Edinburgh.”  It  happened,  however,  that 
the  king  did  not  pass  by  the  way  he  was  expected. 

The  image  of  wax  appears  to  have  been  considered  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  much  greater  moment — a  last  and  terrible  resource,  and 
there  was  evidently  more  than  one  meeting  on  the  subject  be¬ 
tween  the  time  above-mentioned  and  the  eve  of  Hallowmass, 
1590.  An  unusually  solemn  meeting  had  been  called  for  that 
night,  to  be  held  at  North  Berwick  church,  Avhere  the  witches 
assembled  to  the  number  of  above  a  hundred,  among  which  num¬ 
ber  there  were  only  six  men.  Agnes  Sampsoun  confessed  that 
she  went  thither  on  horseback,  and  arrived  at  the  churchyard 
about  eleven  o’clock  at  night,  across  which  they  danced,  Dr. 
Fian  leading  the  way,  and  Geillis  Duncan,  as  usual,  playing  to 
them  on  a  trump.  At  the  church  the  women  first  made  their 


THE  DEVIL  IN  THE  PULPIT. 


123 


homage,  being  turned  six  times  “  widderschinnes”  (that  is  in 
the  contrary  direction  to  the  course  of  the  sun),  and  then  the 
men  were  turned  in  the  same  manner  nine  times.  Fian  next 
blew  open  the  church  door,  and  blew  in  the  lights,  which  were 
like  great  black  candles  held  in  an  old  man’s  hand,  round  the 
pulpit.  The  devil  suddenly  rose  up  in  the  pulpit  in  the  form  of 
a  black  man,  with  a  black  beard  sticking  out  like  that  of  a  goat 
and  a  high  ribbed  nose,  falling  down  like  the  beak  of  a  hawk* 
“  with  a  long  rumple.”  He  was  clad  in  a  black  gown,  with  an 
“  evil-favored”  skull-cap,  also  black,  on  his  head.  John  Fian 
stood  beside  the  pulpit,  as  clerk,  and  next  to  him  was  Robert 
Greirsoun,  above-mentioned.  Some  of  the  company  stood  and 
others  sat.  The  fiend  first  read  from  a  black  book  their  names, 
and  each  when  called  answered,  “  Here,  master.”  On  this  oc¬ 
casion  Satan  appears  to  have  been  in  some  confusion,  for  where¬ 
as  it  was  the  custom  for  every  one  to  have  a  nickname,  by  which 
only  they  were  to  be  named  in  that  company,  that  of  Robert 
Greirsoun  being  “  Rob  the  Rowar,”  the  devil  called  him  by  his 
own  proper  name,  which  caused  great  scandal  and  clamor,  and 
they  all  ran  “  hirdie-girdie,”  and  were  angry.  The  excitement 
was  increased  by  his  making  the  same  mistake  with  regard  to 
Euphame  Mackalzeane  and  Barbara  Napier.  When  this  out¬ 
break  was  appeased,  Satan  made  a  short  sermon,  exhorting  them 
all  to  be  good  servants  and  to  continue  doing  as  much  evil  as 
they  could.  This  was  followed  by  another  outburst  of  dissatis¬ 
faction,  on  account  of  the  image  of  wax  that  was  not  yet  forth¬ 
coming.  Robert  Greirsoun,  urged  on  by  the  women,  said, 

“  ^Vhere  is  tlie  thillg  ye  promised  ?”  To  appease  the  tumult’ 
which  was  becoming  greater  and  greater,  the  fiend  replied  that 
“  should  be  gotten  the  next  meeting,  and  he  would  hold  the 
next  assembly  for  that  cause  the  sooner  ;  it  was  not  ready  at  that 
time.”  Robert  Greirsoun,  who  was  perhaps  ofTended  at  the  mis¬ 
take  about  his  name,  called  out,  “Ye  promised  twice  and  de¬ 
ceived  us  !”  and  four  “  honest-like  women,”  as  Barbara  Napier 
termed  them  in  her  confession,  were  very  importunate,  and  ob¬ 
tained  a  promise  that  the  image  should  be  delivered  very  short¬ 
ly  to  Barbara  Napier  and  Euphame  Mackalzeane,  without  wait¬ 
ing  for  another  meeting.  In  the  midst  of  this  tumult,  poor  Grey 
Meill,  the  door-keeper,  was  imprudent  enough  to  say  that 
“  nothing  ailed  the  king  yeR  God  be  thanked  !”  for  which  “  the 
devil  gave  him  a  great  blow.”  We  are  told  that  the  devil  gave 
as  a  reason  for  his  tardiness,  the  king’s  extreme  piety  and  wis¬ 
dom,  which  had  preserved  him  from  all  dangers ;  and  the  king 


124 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


was  not  a  little  flattered  by  this  confession.  After  this  business 
was  ended,  the  company  appear  to  have  had  a  sort  of  a  revel, 
and  they  opened  two  graves  within  and  one  without  the  church, 
and  took  the  joints  of  the  dead  to  make  charms  of,  which  were 
shared  among  them,  and  then  they  departed,  having  given  the 
evil  one  the  accustomed  compliment  of  a  kiss  behind.  It  ap¬ 
pears  that  the  judicial  prosecution  arose  before  any  further  prog¬ 
ress  could  be  made  with  the  image  of  wax. 

The  strange  circumstances  described  above,  with  much  more, 
were  confessed  to,  more  or  less,  by  nearly  thirty  individuals,  so 
that  we  can  hardly  do  otherwise  than  suppose  that  the  persons 
implicated,  under  some  mental  illusion,  had  plotted  together  to 
effect  a  criminal  object  by  superstitious  practices.  Much,  how¬ 
ever,  of  the  more  extravagant  part  of  the  story  was  probably  sug¬ 
gested  by  the  questions  put  by  their  examiners,  and  extorted 
under  the  terror  and  the  feeling  of  helplessness  produced  by  the 
cruelty  and  tyranny  of  their  tormentors.  We  have  already  seen 
the  manner  in  which  Geilles  Duncan’s  confession  was  wrenched 
from  her.  The  firmness  with  which  many  of  them  suffered  was 
looked  upon  as  diabolical  obstinacy,  and  only  provoked  to  the 
application  of  severer  tortures.  Those  to  which  Dr.  Fian  was 
subjected  were  too  horrible  to  be  described.  Agnes  Sampsoun 
was  examined  before  the  king  at  Holyrood  House ;  she  bore 
the  torture,  which  is  described  in  the  old  narrative  as  “  a  payne 
most  grevous,”  firmly  and  without  confession ;  upon  which  she 
was  stripped,  the  hair  shaved  from  her  body,  and  “  the  devil’s 
mark”  found  in  a  part  where  it  was  a  cruel  insult  to  her  woman¬ 
hood  to  search.  She  confessed  anything  rather  than  submit  to 
further  indignities. 

The  king,  we  are  told,  “  took  great  delight”  in  these  exam¬ 
inations  ;  and  the  confessions  put  him  “  in  a  wonderful  admira¬ 
tion.”  His  vanity  was  flattered,  at  the  same  time  that  his  curi¬ 
osity  was  excited  and  gratified.  He  made  Geilles  Duncan  play 
before  him  on  her  trump  (or  Jew’s  harp)  the  same  tune  to  which 
the  witches  had  danced  in  their  meetings.  The  trials  continued 
to  occupy  him  throughout  the  winter  of  1590,  and  the  end  was 
more  tragical  even  than  the  beginning,  for  the  Scottish  Solomon 
was  inexorable  in  his  judgments.  Dr.  Fian  was  condemned  on 
the  26th  of  December,  1590,  and  “  byrnt”  at  the  beginning  of 
January.  On  the  27th  of  January,  1591,  Agnes  Sampsoun  was 
sentenced  to  be  taken  to  the  castle-hill  of  Edinburgh,  and  there 
be  bound  to  a  stake  and  “  wirreit”  [worried]  till  she  was  dead, 
and  thereafter  her  body  burnt  to  ashes ;  all  which  was  duly  ex- 


KING  JAMES  ON  WITCHCRAFT. 


125 


ecuted.  The  sentence  of  Euphame  Mackalzeane  was  still  more 
cruel  ;  she  appears  to  have  been  kept  long  and  to  have  under¬ 
gone  many  examinations,  probably  in  the  hope  that  she  might 
give  up  the  names  of  some  of  Bothwell’s  accomplices,  and  on 
the  7th  of  June,  1591,  the  was  condemned  to  be  burnt  alive,  the 
others  being  all  strangled  before  they  were  committed  to  the 
flames.  During  the  intervening  period  many  of  her  accomplices 
of  less  note  suffered  at  the  stake.  In  the  case  of  Barbara  Napier, 
the  majority  of  the  jury  having  acquitted  her  of  the  chief  articles 
of  the  charge  against  her,  were  themselves  threatened — the  king 
sitting  in  judgment  in  his  own  person — with  a  trial  for  wilful 
error  upon  an  assize,  and  were  compelled  to  avoid  the  conse¬ 
quences  by  acknowledging  themselves  guilty  and  throwing  them¬ 
selves  on  the  king’s  mercy,  who  “  pardoned”  them. 

King  James  now  became  proud  of  his  skill  and  knowledge  in 
the  matter  of  sorcery,  and  of  the  wisdom  of  his  judgments.  He 
made  it  a  subject  of  his  special  study,  and  his  royal  leisure  was 
occupied  with  the  compilation,  in  form  of  a  dialogue,  of  a  trea¬ 
tise  which  was  printed  under  the  title  of  “Dseinonologie,”  with  the 
king’s  name,  at  Edinburgh,  in  1597.  In  the  preface  the  royal 
author  speaks  of  “  the  fearfull  aboundinge”  of  witches  in  Scot¬ 
land  at  that  time  ;  and  complains  bitterly  against  the  English¬ 
man  Reginald  Scott,  who  had  attempted  to  disprove  the  existence 
of  witches,  and  against  Wierus,  the  German,  who  had  written  a 
sort  of  apology  for  the  persons  thus  accused,  “  whereby,”  says 
the  king,  “  he  plainly  bewrayes  himselfe  to  have  bene  one  of 
that  profession.  His  majesty’s  book  is  much  inferior  to  the 
other  treatises  on  the  subject  published  about  the  same  period ; 
it  is  compiled  from  foreign  works,  and  begins  with  discussing 
very  learnedly  the  nature  and  existence  of  witchcraft,  and  with 
describing  the  contract  with  Satan,  but  it  furnishes  little  or  no 
information  on  the  real  character  of  the  Scottish  superstitions  of 
the  day. 


11* 


12G 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

MAGIC  IN  ENGLAND  DURING  THE  AGE  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  magician,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  former  chapter,  differed 
from  the  witch  in  being  the  master  and  not  the  slave  of  the 
spirits  who  were  supposed  to  work  his  will.  In  the  middle 
ages  the  knowledge  of  the  few  contrasted  so  marvellously  with 
the  ignorance  of  the  multitude,  that  people  were  easily  led  to 
put  faith  in  the  report  that  they  obtained  it  by  a  communication 
with  the  invisible  world,  which  they  in  too  many  cases  design¬ 
edly  propagated,  in  order  to  impose  more  powerfully  on  popular 
credulity.  However,  neither  the  learning  of  the  scholar  nor 
the  wisdom  of  the  statesman  were  proof  against  the  influence  of 
the  universally  prevailing  belief  in  magic.  The  latter  not  un- 
frequently  sought  the  advice  of  the  astrologer  or  the  aid  of  the 
magician  in  his  difficulties  ;  while  some  of  the  most  profound 
scholars  wasted  their  lives  in  the  unprofitable  study  of  a  science, 
the  truth  of  which  was  pretended  to  rest  on  books  and  rules 
handed  down  to  posterity  from  the  age  of  Solomon,  and  even 
from  those  of  Adam  and  the  patriarchs,  who  were  said  to  have 
received  them  from  the  angels  Raziel  and  Raphael. 

The  popular  belief  in  this  science  was  strengthened  by  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  natural  processes  now  commonly  under¬ 
stood,  but  then  known  only  to  a  small  number  of  individuals, 
who  covered  their  knowledge  with  the  most  profound  secrecy  ; 
and  by  the  no  less  extraordinary  feats  of  jugglers,  who  derived 
their  skill  in  sleight-of-hand  from  the  East,  a  part  of  the  world 
always  celebrated  as  the  cradle  of  this  class  of  performers.  We 
find  in  old  histories  mention  of  strange  exhibitions,  which  can 
only  be  explained  by  the  supposition  of  a  combination  of  optical 
instruments,  and  by  other  agencies  which  indicate  an  unusual 
knowledge  of  natural  philosophy.  The  performances  of  the 
jugglers  often  excited  astonishment  and  alarm,  and  they  were 
sometimes  prosecuted  by  the  church  for  their  presumed  inter¬ 
course  with  the  devil.  We  are  told  by  the  ecclesiastical  inquis¬ 
itor,  John  Nider,  mentioned  in  a  former  chapter,  that,  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  woman  made  her  appear¬ 
ance  at  Cologne,  who  performed  many  extraordinary  feats,  such 


POPULAR  INFLUENCE  OF  MAGIC. 


127 


as  tearing  a  napkin  to  pieces,  and  then  in  an  instant  producing 
it  uninjured  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectators  ;  dashing  a  glass 
against  the  ceiling,  and  immediately  restoring  it  whole,  and  the 
like  ;  and  although  these  are  among  the  commonest  tricks  of 
modern  sleight-of-hand,  it  required  powerful  protectors  to  screen 
her  from  the  pursuits  of  the  bishop.  Even  as  late  as  the  year 
1595,  as  we  learn  from  the  journal  of  Pierre  l’Estoile,  when  a 
juggler,  who  had  taught  a  cat  to  perform  various  surprising  feats, 
offered  to  exhibit  it  before  the  French  king  Henri  IV.,  his  min¬ 
isters  represented  to  the  monarch  that  it  might  be  a  plot  to  be¬ 
witch  him,  and,  although  his  majesty  laughed  at  their  apprehen¬ 
sions,  means  were  found  to  get  the  juggler  and  his  cat  out  of  the 
way.  It  was  indeed  at  that  time  an  unpopular  animal  ;  a  learned 
pig  would  have  had  a  better  chance.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  as  we  learn  from  Wierus,  a  contemporary 
writer  on  these  subjects,  there  was  a  man  at  Magdeburg  who 
undertook  to  ride  up  in  the  air,  and,  under  this  pretext,  collected 
from  those  who  were  eager  to  witness  his  departure  a  considera- 
able  sum  of  money.  The  people  who  had  paid  their  money  met 
on  the  day  appointed  ;  they  saw  the  man  bring  forth  a  horse  and 
perform  certain  mysterious  ceremonies,  whereupon  it  began  to 
rise  from  the  ground  ;  the  conjuror  took  hold  of  the  horse’s  tail, 
and,  as  he  gradually  mounted  upward,  his  wife  took  hold  of  him, 
and  their  servant  held  by  his  mistress,  and  so  they  disappeared, 
to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  beholders.  But  in  the  midst  of 
their  admiration,  a  townsman,  returning 4om  a  visit  to  the  coun¬ 
try,  informed  them  that  he  had  seen  the  juggler  marching  away 
with  his  family  and  his  spoils,  along  one  of  the  public  roads 
leading  from  the  city,  in  the  same  ordinary  manner  in  which 
other  mortal  men  are  accustomed  to  travel.  The  whole  was  a 
deception. 

Treatises  on  magic,  both  in  manuscript  and  in  print,  were 
abundant.  In  these  we  find  the  description  of  a  numerous  host 
of  spirits,  classed  according  to  their  powers,  and  forms,  and  at¬ 
tributes.  One  had  for  its  province  the  care  of  treasures,  another 
the  giving  of  power,  this  of  endowing  with  eloquence,  that  of 
procuring  or  destroying  love.  Each  of  these,  by  certain  cere¬ 
monies  and  invocations,  might  be  made  subservient  to  the  per¬ 
son  who  called  him  up.  So  general  was  the  belief  in  the  effi¬ 
cacy  of  these  charms  and  ceremonies,  that  even  late  in  the  six¬ 
teenth  century,  when  men  of  enlightened  minds  printed  them  in 
order  to  expose  them  to  ridicule,  others,  their  opponents,  but 
men  of  learning  and  character,  such  as  Bodin,  cried  out  with 


128 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


terror  at  the  danger  likely  to  arise  from  placing  within  the  reach 
of  the  vulgar  such  powerful  instruments  of  mischief.  Some¬ 
times  the  magician  called  the  spirit  to  a  charmed  circle  ;  some¬ 
times  he  compelled  him  to  appear  in  a  mirror ;  but  the  more 
usual  method  was  to  force  the  spirit  into  a  crystal,  or  stone,  and 
to  hold  him  confined  there  until  he  had  answered  the  purposes 
•for  which  he  was  called.  Dee’s  conjuring  stone  was  preserved 
in  the  Strawberry  Hill  collection,  and  is  described  as  being  ap¬ 
parently  a  polished  piece  of  kennel  coal.  The  works  on  magic 
give  the  several  invocations  and  forms  for  calling  each  particu¬ 
lar  spirit ;  and  there  are  even  incantations  of  a  more  stringent 
nature  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  constraining  or  punishing 
such  spirits  as  might  show  obstinacy  toward  those  who  called 
upon  them.  A  volume  of  this  description  among  the  manu¬ 
scripts  in  the  British  Museum  (MS.  Sloane,  No.  3850,  fol.  149), 
after  giving  a  charm,  and  directions  for  using  it,  goes  on  to  say, 

“  The  virtue  of  this,  lirst,  is,  that  if  any  spirit  wrere  in  any  glass, 
and  any  of  these  figures  laid  upon  the  said  glass,  that  then  the 
spirit  should  not  depart  till  the  figure  were  removed  ;  and  when 
thou  wilt  bind  or  conjure  any  spirit,  then  thou  must  bind  the  seal 
of  Solomon  about  thy  right  arm,  the  pentagon  and  mortagon 
about  thy  head,  and  the  girdle  about  thy  breast  :  then  hold  a 
little  myrrh  and  frankincense  under  thy  tongue,  and  calhwhat 
spirit  thou  wilt,  and  he  will  presently,  without  delay,  come  and  . 
obey  thee  in  what  he  may.”  It  was  necessary  that  persons 
using  these  charms  should  be  well  acquainted  with  the  science 
and  its  applications  ;  for,  although,  when  properly  performed, 
they  made  the  magician  absolute  master  of  the  spirit,  the  latter 
was  an  unwilling  servant,  and  if  the  slightest  error  were  made 
in  the  incantation,  he  not  unfrequently  took  his  revenge  by  rush¬ 
ing  on  the  unskilful  scholar,  and  carrying  him  away.  In  1530,  as 
Wierus  tells  us,  a  priest  of  Nuremburg  had  recourse  to  such  in¬ 
cantations,  and  the  devil  showed  him  in  a  glass  where  treasure 
lay  buried.  The  priest  went  to  the  spot,  and  began  digging, 
but,  when  he  had  just  come  in  sight  of  the  chest  of  treasure  and 
of  a  black  dog  which  guarded  it,  the  earth  fell  in  upon  him  and 
buried  him,  and  nobody  could  find  the  place  afterward. 

As  we  approach  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  we  find  that  the 
study  of  magic  and  alchemy  had  become  extremely  common 
among  the  Romish  clergy.  This  was  especially  the  case  in 
England,  where  we  hear  of  frequent  instances  of  priests  and 
monks  who  ventured  to  dabble  in  the  forbidden  sciences. '  Un¬ 
der  the  first  monarclis  of  the  Tudor  dynasty,  the  extraordinary 


WILLIAM  NEVILLE. 


129 


and  rapid  elevation  of  men  like  Wolsey  and  Cromwell,  from 
comparatively  low  stations  in  life  to  the  possession  of  immense 
wealth  and  almost  regal  power,  led  people  to  suspect  the  inter¬ 
vention  of  supernatural  agency,  and  set  people  mad  in  their 
efforts  in  search  of  treasure  and  the  attainment  of  power.  In 
the  reign  of  bluff  King  Hal,  to  judge  by  documents  still  preserved, 
this  island  must  have  been  full  of  conjurors.  One  or  two  curi¬ 
ous  examples  are  furnished  by  documents  among  the  Cromwell 
papers  in  the  record-office  of  the  Rolls-House. 

Among  these  ambitious  hunters  after  fortune  was  one  of  the 
Neville  family,  who  is  merely  described  as  William  Neville, 
“  gent,”  but  who  had  a  house  at  “  Weke,”  near  Oxford,  and  who 
appears  to  have  held  some  place  in  the  haughty  cardinal’s  house¬ 
hold.  At  the  period  of  Wolsey’s  greatness,  a  magician  who  is 
described  as  “  one  Wood,  gent,”  was  dragged  before  the  privy- 
council,  charged  with  some  misdemeanor  which  was  connected 
with  the  intrigues  of  the  day.  In  a  paper  addressed  to  the  lords 
of  the  council,  Wood  states  that  William  Neville  had  sent  for 
him  to  his  own  house  at  Oxford,  it  being  the  first  communica¬ 
tion  he  ever  had  with  that  “  gent.”  After  he  had  been  at  Weke 
a  short  time,  Neville  took  him  by  the  arm  and  led  him  privately 
into  the  garden,  and,  to  use  the  quaint  language  of  the  original, 
“  ther  demawndyd  of  me  many  questyons,  and  amowng  all  other 
askvd  [if  it]  were  not  possible  to  have  a  rynge  made  that  showld 
brynge  man  in  favor  with  hys  pry  nee,  saying  my  lord  cardinale 
had  suche  a  rynge  that  whatsomevere  he  askyd  of  the  kynges 
grace  that  he  hadd  yt,  ‘  and  Master  Cromwell,  when  he  and  I 
were  servauntys  in  my  lord  cardynales  hous$e,  dyd  hawnt  to  the 
company  of  one  that  was  seyne  in  your  faculte,  and  shortly  after 
no  man  so  grett  with  my  lord  cardynale  as  Master  Cromwell 
was.’”  Neville  added,  that  he  had  spoken  “  with  all  those  who 
have  any  name  in  this  realm,”  who  had  assured  him  that  in  the 
same  way  he  might  become  “  great  with  his  prince,”  and  he 
ended  by  asking  of  the  reputed  magician  what  books  he  had 
studied  on  the  subject.  The  latter  continues,  “  and  I,  at  the 
harte  desyre  of  hym,  showyd  hym  that  I  had  rede  many  bokes, 
and  specyally  the  boke  of  Salamon,  and  how  his  rynges  be 
made  and  of  what  mettell,  and  what  vertues  they  had  after  the 
canon  of  Salamon.”  He  added,  that  he  had  also  studied  the 
magical  work  of  Hermes.  William  Neville  then  requested  him 
to  undertake  the  making  of  a  ring,  which  he  says  that  he  de¬ 
clined,  and  so  went  away  for  that  time.  But  Neville  sent  for 
him  again,  and  entered  into  further  communication  with  him  on 


130 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  old  subject,  telling  him  that  he  had  with  him  another  con¬ 
jurer,  named  Wade,  who  could  show  him  more  than  he  should ; 
and,  among  other  things,  had  showed  him  that  “  he  should  be  a 
great  lord.”  This  was  an  effective  attempt  to  move  Wood’s 
jealousy;  and  it  appears  that  Neville  now  prevailed  upon  him 
to  make  “  moldes,”  probably  images,  “  to  the  entent  that  he 
showld  a  had  Mastres  Elezebeth  Gare,”  on  whom  he  seems  to 
have  set  his  love.  Perhaps  she  was  a  rich  heiress.  Wood 
then  enters  into  excuses  for  himself,  declaring  that,  although  at 
the  desire  of  “  some  of  his  friends,”  he  had  called  to  a  stone  for 
things  stolen,  he  had  not  undertaken  to  find  treasures  ;  and  he 
concludes  with  the  naive  boast,  “  but  to  make  the  phylosofer’s 
stone,  I  wyll  chebard  [that  is,  jeopard]  my  lyffe  to  do  hyt,  yf 
hyt  plesse  the  kynges  good  grace  to  command  me  do  hyt.”  This 
was  the  pride  of  science  above  the  low  practitioners.  He  even 
offered  to  remain  in  prison  until  he  had  performed  his  boast,  and 
only  asked  “  twelve  months  upon  silver,  and  twelve  and  a  half 
upon  gold.”  This  reminds  us  of  the  story  of  Pierre  d’Estaing 
and  the  lord  of  Bauffremont. 

The  search  of  treasures,  which  the  conjuror  Wood  so  earnest¬ 
ly  disclaims,  was,  however,  one  of  the  most  usual  occupations 
of  our  magicians  of  this  period.  The  frequent  discoveries  of 
Roman  or  Saxon,  or  medieval  deposites,  in  the  course  of  acci¬ 
dental  digging — then  probably  more  common  than  at  present — 
was  enough  to  whet  the  appetite  of  the  needy  or  the  miserly ; 
and  the  belief  that  the  sepulchral  barrow,  or  the  long-deserted 
ruin,  or  even  the  wild  and  haunted  glen,  concealed  treasures  of 
gold  and  silver  of  great  amount,  has  been  carried  down  to  our 
own  days  in  a  variety  of  local  legends.  Hidden  treasures  were 
under  the  particular  charge  of  some  of  the  spirits  who  obeyed 
the  magician’s  call,  and  we  still  trace  his  operations  in  many  a 
barrow  that  has  been  disturbed,  and  ruined  floor  which  has  been 
broken  up.  That  these  searches  were  not  always  successful 
will  be  evident  from  the  following  narrative. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  a  priest  named  William  Stapleton 
was  placed  under  arrest  as  a  conjuror,  arid  as  having  been  mixed 
up  in  some  court  intrigues,  and  at  the  request  of  Cardinal  Wolsey 
he  wrote  an  account  of  his  adventures,  still  preserved  in  the 
Roll’s  House  records  (for  it  is  certainly  addressed  to  Wolsey, 
and  not,  as  has  been  supposed,  to  Cromwell).  Stapleton  says 
that  he  had  been  a  monk  of  the  mitred  abbey  of  St.  Benet  in  the 
Holm,  in  Norfolk,  where  he  was  resident  in  the  nineteenth  of 
Henry  VIII.,  that  is,  in  1527  or  1528,  at  which  time  he  borrowed 


WILLIAM  STAPLETON. 


131 


of  one  Dennys,  of  Hofton,  who  had  procured  them  of  the  vicar 
of  Watton,  a  book  called  “  Thesaurus  Spirituum,  and  after  that 
another,  called  Secreta  Secrctorum,  a  little  ring,  a  plate,  a  circle, 
and  also  a  sword  for  the  art  of  digging,”  in  studying  the  use  of 
which  he  spent  six  months.  Now  it  appears  that  Stapleton  had 
small  taste  for  early  rising,  and  after  having  been  frequently 
punished  for  being  absent  from  matins  and  negligent  of  his  duty 
in  church,  he  obtained  a  license  of  six  months  from  the  abbot  to 
go  into  the  world,  and  try  and  raise  money  to  buy  a  dispensation 
from  an  order  which  seemed  so  little  agreeable  to  his  taste.  The 
first  person  he  consulted  with  was  his  friend  Dennys,  who 
recommended  him  to  try  his  skill  in  finding  treasure,  and  intro¬ 
duced  him  to  two  “  knowing  men,”  who  had  “  placards,”  or 
licenses  from  the  king  to  search  for  treasure  trove,  which  were 
not  unfrequently  bought  from  the  crown  at  this  period.  These 
men  lent  him  other  books  and  instruments  belonging  to  the  “  art 
of  digging,”  and  they  went  together  to  a  place  named  Sidestrand 
in  Norfolk,  to  search  and  mark  out  the  ground  where  they 
thought  treasure  should  lie.  It  happened,  however,  that  the 
lady  Tyrry,  to  whom  the  estate  belonged,  received  intelligence 
of  their  movements,  and,  after  sending  for  them  and  subjecting 
them  to  a  close  examination,  ordered  them  to  leave  her  grounds. 

After  this  rebuff,  the  treasure-seekers  went  to  Norwich,  where 
they  became  acquainted  with  another  conjurer  named  Godfrey,  who 
had  a  “  shower,”  or  spirit ;  “  which  spirit,”  Stapleton  says,  “  I  had 
after  myself;”  and  they  went  together  to  Felmingham,  and  there 
Godfrey’s  boy  did  “  scry”  unto  the  spirit,  but  after  opening  the 
ground  they  found  nothing  there.  There  are  Roman  barrows  at 
Felmingham,  which,  when  examined  recently,  appeared  to  have 
been  opened  at  a  former  period  in  search  of  treasure.  The  dis¬ 
appointed  conjurers  returned  to  Norwich,  and  there  met  with  a 
stranger,  who  brought  them  to  a  house  in  which  it  was  supposed 
that  treasure  lay  concealed  ;  and  Stapleton  again  applied  himself 
to  his  incantations,  and  called  the  spirit  of  the  treasure  to  appear, 
but  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  charms,  “  for  I  suppose  of  a 
truth,”  is  the  pithy  observation  of  the  operator,  “  that  there  was 
none.” 

Disappointed  and  disgusted,  Stapleton  now  gave  up  the  pur¬ 
suit,  and  obtained  money  from  a  friend  with  which  he  bought  a 
dispensation  to  quit  his  monastic  order,  and  returned  to  Norfolk 
with  the  intention  of  establishing  himself  as  a  hermit. 

Perhaps  William  Stapleton’s  object  in  turning  hermit  was  to 
follow  his  former  pursuits  with  more  secrecy.  In  Norfolk  he 


132 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


soon  met  with  some  of  his  old  treasure-seeking  acquaintances, 
who  urged  him  to  go  to  work  again,  which  he  refused  to  do  un¬ 
less  his  books  were  better.  They  told  him  of  a  man  of  the  name 
of  Leech,  who  had  a  book,  to  which  the  parson  of  Lesingham 
had  bound  a  spirit  called  “  Andrea  Malehus  and  to  this  man  he 
went.  Leech  let  him  have  all  his  instruments,  and  told  him 
further- that  the  parson  of  Lesingham  and  Sir  John  of  Leiston 
(another  ecclesiastic)  with  others,  had  called  up  of  late  by  the 
means  of  the  book  in  question  three  spirits,  Andrew  Malehus  (be¬ 
fore  mentioned),  Oberion,  and  Inchubus.  “  When  these  spirits,” 
he  said,  “  were  all  raised,  Oberion  would  in  nowise  speak.  Arid 
then  the  parson  of  Lesingham  did  demand  of  Andrew  Malehus, 
and  so  did  Sir  John  of  Leiston  also,  why  Oberion  would  not 
speak  to  them.  And  Andrew  Malehus  made  answer-.  ‘  For  be¬ 
cause  he  was  bound  unto  the  lord-cardinal.’  And  that  also  they 
did  entreat  the  said  parson  of  Lesingham,  and  the  said  Sir  John 
of  Leiston,  that  they  might  depart  as  at  that  time ;  and  whenso¬ 
ever  it  would  please  them  to  call  them  up  again,  they  would  glad¬ 
ly  do  them  any  service  they  could.” 

When  Stapleton  had  made  this  important  acquisition,  he  re¬ 
paired  again  to  Norwich,  where  he  had  not  long  been,  when  he 
was  found  by  a  messenger  from  a  personage  whom  he  calls  the 
lord  Leonard  Marquees,  who  lived  at  “  Calkett  Hall,”  and  who 
wanted  a  person  expert  in  the  art  of  digging.  He  met  Lord 
Leonard  at  Walsingham,  who  promised  him  that  if  he  would 
take  pains  in  exercising  the  said  art,  he  would  sue  out  a  dispen¬ 
sation  for  him  to  be  a  secular  priest,  and  so  make  him  his  chap¬ 
lain.  The  lord  Leonard  proceeded  rather  shrewdly  to  make  trial 
of  the  searcher’s  talents ;  for  he  directed  one  of  his  servants  to 
hide  a  sum  of  money  in  the  garden,  and  Stapleton  “  shewed”  for 
it,  and  one  Jackson  “  scryed,”  but  he  was  unable  to  find  the 
money.  Yet,  without  being  daunted  at  this  slip,  Stapleton  went 
directly  with  two  other  priests,  Sir  John  Shepe  and  Sir  Robert 
Porter,  to  a  place  beside  Creke  Abbey,  where  treasure  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  be,  and  “  Sir  John  Shepe  called  the  spirit  of  the  treas¬ 
ure,  and  I  showed  to  him,  but  all  came  to  no  purpose .” 

Stapleton  now  went  to  hide  his  disappointment  in  London,  and 
remained  there  some  weeks,  till  the  lord  Leonard,  who  had  sued 
out  his  dispensation  as  he  promised,  sent  for  him  to  pass  the  winter 
with  him  in  Leicestershire,  and  toward  spring  he  returned  to  Nor¬ 
folk.  And  there  he  was  informed  that  there  was  “  much  money” 
hidden  in  the  neighborhood  of  Calkett  Hall,  and  especially  in  the 
Bell  Hill  (probably  an  ancient  tumulus  or  barrow),  and  after 


WILLIAM  STAPLETON. 


133 


some  delay,  he  obtained  his  instruments,  and  went  to  work  with 
the  parish  priest  ot  Gorleston,  but  “  of  truth  we  could  bring  noth¬ 
ing  to  effect.”  On  this  he  again  repaired  to  London,  carrying 
his  instruments  with  him,  and  on  his  arrival  he  was  thrown  into 
prison  at  the  suit  of  the  lord  Leonard,  who  accused  him  of  leav- 
ing  his  service  without  permission,  and  all  his  instruments  were 
seized.  These  he  never  recovered,  but  he  was  soon  liberated 
from  prison,  and  obtained  temporary  employment  in  the  church. 

But  his  conjuring  propensities  seem  still  to  have  lingered  about 
him,  and  we  find  this  ex-monk  and  hermit,  and  now  secular  priest, 
soon  afterward  engaged  in  an  intrigue  which  led  him  eventually 
into  a  much  more  serious  danger.  It  appears  by  Stapleton’s 
statements,  that  one  Wright,  a  servant  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk, 
came  to  him,  and  “  at  a  certayn  season  shewed  me  that  the  duke’s 
grace,  his  master,  was  soore  vexed  with  a  spyrytt  by  the  enchant¬ 
ment  of  your  grace” — he  is  addressing  Wolsey.  Stapleton  says 
that  he  refused  to  interfere,  but  that  Wright  went  to  the  duke  and 
told  him  that  he,  Stapleton,  knew  of  his  being  enchanted  by  Car¬ 
dinal  Wolsey,  and  that  he  could  help  him  ;  upon  which  the  duke 
sent  lor  Stapleton,  and  had  an  interview  with  him.  It  had  pre¬ 
viously  been  arranged  by  Wright  and  Stapleton  (who  says  that 
he  had  been  urged  into  the  plot  by  the  persuasion  of  Wright,  and 
by  the  hope  of  gain  and  prospect  of  obtaining  the  duke’s  favor), 
that  he  should  say  he  knew  that  the  duke  was  persecuted  by  a 
spirit,  and  that  he  had  “  forged”  an  image  of  wax  in  his  simili¬ 
tude,  which  he  had  enchanted,  in  order  to  relieve  him.  The 
duke  of  Norfolk  appears  at  first  to  have  placed  implicit  belief  in 
all  that  Stapleton  told  him;  he  inquired  of  him  if  he  had  certain 
knowledge  that  the  lord-cardinal  had  a  spirit  at  his  command,  to 
which  he  replied  in  the  negative.  He  then  questioned  him  as  to 
his  having  heard  any  one  assert  that  the  cardinal  had  a  spirit; 
on  which  Stapleton  told  him  of  the  raising  of  Oberion  by  the 
parson  of  Lesingham  and  Sir  John  of  Leiston,  and  how  Oberion 
refused  to  speak,  because  he  was  the  lord-cardinal’s  spirit.  The 
duke,  however,  soon  after  this,  became  either  suspicious  or  fear¬ 
ful,  and  he  eventually  sent  Stapleton  to  the  cardinal  himself,  who 
appears  to  have  committed  him  to  prison,  and  at  whose  order  he 
drew  up  the  account  here  abridged. 

The  foregoing  is  the  history  of  a  man  who,  after  having  been 
a  victim  to  his  implicit  belief  in  the  efficiency  of  magical  opera¬ 
tions,  was  himself  driven  at  last  to  have  recourse  to  intentional 
deception.  The  number  of  such  treasure-hunters  appears  to 
have  been  far  greater  among  his  contemporaries,  of  almost  all 

12 


134 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


classes  of  society,  than  we  should  at  first  glance  be  led  to  sup¬ 
pose.  A  few  years  before  the  date  of  these  events,  in  the  12th 
Henry  VIII.,  or  A.  D.,  1521,  the  king  had  granted  to  Robert 
Lord  Curzon,  the  monopoly  of  treasure-seeking  in  the  counties 
of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  and  Lord  Curzon  immediately  delegated 
to  a  man,  named  William  Smith,  of  Clopton,  and  a  servant  or 
retainer  of  his  own,  named  Amylyon,  not  only  the  right  of  search 
thus  given  to  him,  but  the  power  to  arrest  and  proceed  against 
any  other  person  they  found  seeking  treasures  within  the  two 
counties.  It  appears  that  Smith  and  Amylyon  had  in  some  cases 
used  this  delegated  authority  for  purposes  of  extortion  ;  and  in 
the  summer  of  the  same  year,  Smith  was  brought  up  before  the 
court  of  the  city  of  Norwich,  at  the  suit  of  William  Goodred,  of 
Great  Melton,  the  minutes  of  the  proceedings  against  him  still 
remaining  on  the  records.  We  here  again  find  priests  concerned 
in  these  singular  operations. 

It  appears  that  the  treasure-diggers,  who  had  received  their 
“  placard”  of  Lord  Curzon  in  March,  went  to  Norwich  about 
Easter,  and  paid  a  visit  to  a  schoolmaster,  named  George  Dow¬ 
sing,  dwelling  in  the  parish  of  St.  Faith,  who,  they  had  heard, 
was  “  seen  in  astronymve.”  They  showed  him  their  license  for 
treasure-seeking,  which  authorized  them  to  press  into  their  ser¬ 
vice  any  persons  they  might  find  who  had  skill  in  the  science  ; 
so  that  it  would  appear  that  they  were  not  capable  of  raising  spir¬ 
its  themselves,  without  the  assistance  of  “  scholars.”  The 
schoolmaster  entered  willingly  into  their  projects,  and  they  went, 
about  two  or  three  o’clock  in  the  morning,  with  one  or  two  other 
persons  who  were  admitted  into  their  confidence,  and  dug  in 
ground  beside  “  Butter  Hides,”  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  but 
“ found  nothing  there."  These  “  tulles,”  also,  were  probably  tu¬ 
muli.  They  next  proceeded  to  a  place  called  “  Seynt  William 
in  the  Wood,  by  Norwich,”  where  they  excavated  two  days  (or 
rather  two  nights),  but  with  no  better  success. 

They  now  held  a  meeting  at  the  house  of  one  Saunders,  in 
the  market  of  Norwich,  and  called  to  their  assistance  two  eccle¬ 
siastics,  one  named  Sir  William,  the  other,  Sir  Robert  Cromer, 
the  former  being  the  parish  priest  of  St.  Gregory’s.  At  this 
meeting,  George  Dowsing  raised  “  a  spirit  or  two,”  in  a  glass  ; 
but  one  of  the  priests,  Sir  Robert  Cromer,  “  began  and  raised  a 
spirit  first.”  This  spirit,  according  to  the  depositions,  was  seen 
by  two  or  three  persons.  Amylyon  deposed  that  “  he  was  at 
Saunders’s,  where  Sir  Robert  Cromer  held  up  a  stone,  but  he 
could  not  perceive  anything  in  it ;  but  that  George  Dowsing 


PERSECUTION  OF  FARMER  GOODRED. 


135 


caused  to  rise  in  a  glass  a  little  thing  of  the  length  of  an  inch  or 
thereabout,  but  whether  it  was  a  spirit  or  a  shadow  he  can  not 
tell,  but  the  said  George  said  it  was  a  spirit.”  However,  spirit 
or  no  spirit,  they  seem  to  have  had  as  little  success  as  ever  in 
discovering  the  treasure. 

Unable,  after  so  many  attempts,  to  find  a  treasure  themselves, 
they  seem  now  to  have  resolved  on  laying  a  general  contribution 
on  everybody  who  followed  the  same  equivocal  calling.  They 
went  first  and  accused  a  person  of  the  name  of  Wikman,  of  Mor- 
ley  Swanton,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  of  “  digging  of  hilles,” 
and,  by  threatening  to  take  him  before  Lord  Curzon,  they  ob¬ 
tained  from  him  ten  shillings.  Under  the  same  pretext,  they 
took  from  a  lime-burner  of  Norwich,  named  White,  a  “  crystal- 
stone,”  and  twelvepence  in  money,  in  order  that  he  “  should  not 
be  put  to  further  trouble.”  They  took  both  books  (probably  con¬ 
juring  books)  and  money  from  John  Wellys,  of  Hunworth,  near 
Holt  Market,  whom,  similarly,  they  accused,  of  “  digging  of 
hilles.”  And  of  another  person,  laboring  under  the  same  charge, 
they  took  “  a  crystal-stone  and  certain  money.” 

The  case  of  William  Goodred,  “husbandman,”  of  Great  Mel¬ 
ton,  in  Norfolk,  affords  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  manner  in 
which  these  worthies  went  to  work.  On  St.  George’s  Eve 
(April  22d,  1521),  Smith,  Amylyon,  and  an  accomplice  of  the 
name  of  Judy,  came  to  Goodred,  as  he  was  at  the  plough  in 
Melton  field,  and  charged  him  with  being  a  “hill-digger.”  In 
order  to  settle  the  dispute,  they  adjourned  from  the  field  to  an 
“  ale-hous”  in  Melton,  where  several  persons  were  drinking,  and 
there  they  took  Goodred  into  the  yard  to  examine  him.  He  de¬ 
nying  the  charge,  Smith  drew  his  dagger,  and  threatened  that, 
unless  he  would  confess  to  them  that  he  was  a  hill-digger,  he 
“  would  thrust  his  dagger  through  his  cheeks.”  Goodred  still 
persisted  in  his  denial  ;  whereupon  Smith,  Amylyon,  and  Judy, 
finding  that  he  would  not  confess  “to  their  minds,”  asked  him 
what  money  he  would  give  them  “to  have  no  further  trouble.” 
On  his  refusing  to  give  them  anything,  they  threatened  to  carry 
him  to  Norwich  Castle.  The  noise  in  the  yard  had  now  brought 
out  several  men  of  substance,  who  were  drinking  in  the  alehouse, 
and  who  not  only  attempted  to  bring  the  accusers  to  reason,  but 
offered  to  give  security,  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  pounds,  for 
Goodred’s  appearance  to  answer  any  charges  brought  against 
him.  But  this  was  not  what  Smith  and  his  companions  wanted, 
and  they  refused,  and  led  away  Goodred  as  far  as  Little  Melton, 
accompanied  by  those  who  had  joined  them  at  the  alehouse,  and 


136 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


there  they  met  a  Mr.  Calle,  who  also  offered  to  be  surety  for 
Goodred,  but  in  vain.  They  thus  proceeded  to  carry  their  pris¬ 
oner  to  Norwich,  but  at  last,  after  much  wrangling,  they-agreed 
to  take  surety  of  the  persons  who  had  followed  them  from  Great 
Melton  for  Goodred’s  appearance  at  Norwich  the  next  day.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  on  St.  George’s  day,  Goodred,  with  his  sureties,  came 
■  to  the  house  of  Saunders  already  mentioned,  in  the  market-place, 
and  there  Smith  and  Amylyon  asked  him  again  how  much  money 
he  would  give  them  to  have  no  further  trouble,  “  or  elles  they 
would  send  him  to  the  castle.”  On  his  again  refusing  to  give 
any  money,  they  dragged  him  through  the  market-place  toward 
the  castle,  but  at  Cutlers’  Row  his  courage  failed  him,  and  “for 
fear  of  imprisonment,”  he  engaged  to  give  Smith  twenty  shil¬ 
lings,  in  part  of  which  he  paid  down  to  him,  on  a  stall  in  Cut¬ 
lers’  Row,  six  shillings  and  eightpence,  and  gave  sureties  for  the 
remainder,  which  was  duly  paid  on  the  following  Saturday,  and 
Smith  and  Amylyon  had  the  impudence  to  give  him  a  written 
acquittance. 

Such  was  the  oppressive  manner  in  which,  in  former  days, 
men  could  act  under  cover  of  the  livery  or  license  of  a  lord. 
The  matter  was  brought  before  the  court  of  Norwich,  as  stated 
above,  and  Amylyon,  who  appears  to  have  had  a  quarrel  with 
his  accomplice  Smith,  came  forward  as  a  witness  against  him. 
But  still  there  appears  to  have  been  no  great  expectation  of  se¬ 
curing  justice  in  this  court ;  and  the  persons  injured  had  re¬ 
course  to  a  surer  manner  of  obtaining  vengeance.  They  swore 
that,  at  Great  Melton,  one  of  the  party  asking  Smith  if  he  had 
heard  that  the  duke  of  Buckingham  was  committed  to  the  Tower,* 
he  had  answered,  “  Yea,  and  therefor  a  very  mischief  and  ven¬ 
geance  upon  the  heads  of  my  lord  cardinal  and  of  my  lord  of 
Suffolk,  for  they  are  the  causers  thereof!”  And  when  his  inter¬ 
rogator  observed,  “  Beware  what  ye  say,”  Smith,  “  setting  his 
hands  under  his  sides,”  answered  again,  “  By  the  mass,  I  would 
say  it  again,  even  if  I  were  before  my  lord  cardinal  and  my  lord 
of  Suffolk,  before  their  faces!”  We  are  left  to  guess  at  the  re¬ 
sult;  but  in  the  days  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  a  man  who  used  free¬ 
dom  of  speech  like  this  would  with  difficulty  escape  the  gallows. 

Other  instances  might  be  quoted  of  the  infatuation  of  men  at 
this  period,  in  seeking  treasures  by  means  of  magical  operations, 
the  influence  of  which  was  long  after  felt,  even  in  an  age  when 

*  Edward  Stafford,  duke  of  Buckingham,  having'  incurred  the  enmity  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  the  proud  prelate  pursued  him  to  the  scaffold,  and  it  was  just  at  this  time 
that  he  was  by  his  means  attainted  of  high  treason  and  executed.  The  expression 
of  sympathy  with  the  duke  wras  looked  upon  as  amounting  to  treason. 


THE  DEVIL  AND  HIS  DAM. 


137 


true  science  had  made  wide  and  solid  progress  in  the  land.  In 
1574,  the  celebrated  Dr.  Dee  petitioned  Lord  Burghley  to  obtain 
for  him  from  Queen  Elizabeth  a  license  of  monopoly  of  treasure¬ 
digging  in  England.  This  superstition  appears  to  have  lingered 
longest  in  Wales  and  on  the  borders  Among  the  Landsdowne 
manuscripts  there  is  a  letter  from  John  Wogan,  sheriff  of  Pem¬ 
brokeshire,  to  Lord  Burghley,  informing  him  that  it  was  reported 
that  certain  persons  had  “  found  at  an  old  pair  of  walles  at  Spit- 
tell,  in  the  said  county,  a  great  quantity  of  treasure,  gold  and  sil¬ 
ver,  contained  in  a  certain  work  of  brass  (that  is,  a  brass  pot), 
as  is  supposed,  and  that  they  had  knowledge  thereof  by  the  ad¬ 
vertisement  of  one  Lewis,  a  priest  dwelling  in  Carmarthenshire.” 
The  worthy  sheriff,  who  appears  to  have  considered  this  an 
affair  of  momentous  importance,  adds  that,  besides  examining 
various  persons  said  to  have  been  concerned  in  this  matter,  he 
with  others  had  “  repaired  to  the  place,  and  found  the  walls 
broken  with  engines,  and  a  place  within  the  centre  of  the  wall 
containing  one  foot  square  fit  for  such  a  work,  and  the  rest  of 
the  work  had  made  black  the  circumference  of  the  place  and 
expresses  his  opinion  that  “the  truth  of  this  matter  will  never 
be  bolted  out,  without  that  the  priest  be  examined,  and  the  par¬ 
ties  also  menaced  with  some  torture  or  extremity.”  Long  after 
this,  a  man  named  William  Hobby,  who  appears  at  the  time  to 
have  been  in  confinement  in  the  Tower,  writes  to  Lord  Burghley, 
on  the  28th  of  April,  1589,  for  authority  to  seek  treasure  in 
Sken frith  castle,  in  Monmouthshire,  where  he  gravely  informs 
the  old  and  experienced  minister  that  “  the  voyce  of  the  coun- 
threy  goeth  there  is  a  dyvell  and  his  dam,  one  sitts  upon  a  hogs- 
hed  of  gold,  the  other  upon  a  hogshed  of  silver.”  The  writer 
undertakes,  if  properly  authorized,  to  drive  away  these  loath¬ 
some  guardians  of  the  treasures  of  olden  times. 

The  treasure-hunting  mania  seems  not  to  have  been  confined 
to  England  at  the  time  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  above, 
but  it  spread  over  Germany,  France,  Italy,  and  Spain.  °  In  the 
latter  country,  as  we  learn  from  Llorente,  a  Spanish  noble  named 
Don  Diego  Fernandez  de  Heredia,  was,  on  the  ninth  of  May, 
1591,  denounced  to  the  inquisitors  of  S_aragossa  on  the  charge 
of  necromancy.  He  was  said  to  have  been  in  league  with  a 
Moorish  magician  of  the  village  of  Lucenic,  from  whom  he  ob¬ 
tained  some  Arabic  books  of  magic,  and  these  he  communicated 
to  another  Moorish  magician,  named  Francisco  de  Marquina, 
who  read  the  books  and  told  him  they  contained  rules  and  di¬ 
rections  for  discovering  concealed  treasures.  Don  Diego  took 

12* 


138 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


this  magician  home  to  his  house,  and  in  a  very  dark  summer 
night  they  proceeded,  with  the  book  of  magic  and  one  or  two 
companions,  to  the  hermitage  of  Matamal,  not  far  from  the  Ebro, 
where  Marquina  said  that,  according  to  the  book,  a  great  horde 
of  gold  and  silver  money  was  concealed.  When  they  had  arrived 
there,  and  everything  was  ready,  the  necromancer  Marquina  pro¬ 
nounced  the  formula  of  conjuration,  and  immediately,  we  are 
told,  loud  thunder  was  heard  on  the  hill  beside  them,  and  Mar¬ 
quina  advanced  toward  it,  and  pretended  to  hold  converse  with 
the  demon.  He  returned  to  inform  his  companions  that  they 
must  dig  under  the  altar  of  the  hermitage,  and  they  began  their 
operations  under  Don  Diego’s  directions,  while  he  went  to  con¬ 
tinue  his  discourse  with  the  evil  one.  It  is  probable  that  the 
hermitage  was  built  on  a  Roman  site,  for  they  found  some  frag¬ 
ments  of  pottery,  although  there  was  no  treasure.  On  this,  the 
demons  were  conjured  anew,  and  they  said  that  there  certainly 
was  treasure,  but  that  it  was  very  deep,  and  the  time  destined 
for  its  discovery  was  not  yet  arrived.  The  next  night  they  went 
to  another  solitary  place,  near  Xelsa,  a  town  which  occupies 
the  site  of  the  Roman  Celsa.  It  is  probable  that  they  had  again 
hit  upon  a  Roman  burial-place,  for,  after  repeating  the  same  con¬ 
jurations,  they  found,  as  we  are  told,  some  earthen  vases  and  a 
quantity  of  cinders  and  ashes,  but  no  treasure,  the  absence  of 
which  was  explained  in  the  same  way  as  before. 

As  the  searchers  appear  always  to  have  chosen  sites  of  this 
description,  led  probably  by  popular  tradition,  it  is  not  surpri¬ 
sing  if  their  search  was  at  times  crowned  with  success.  Ignor¬ 
ance  and  superstition  combined  led  them  to  attribute  this  to  the 
efficacy  of  their  charms,  in  which  they  seem  honestly  to  have 
placed  confidence.  Indeed,  when  we  read  the  old  and  apparent¬ 
ly  authentic  descriptions  of  the  performances  of  some  of  the  pre¬ 
tended  magicians  of  former  days,  we  are  not  surprised  that  the 
science  should  gain  belief.  The  wild  stories  of  a  Bacon  or  a 
Faustus  scarcely  exceed  the  realities  which  are  described  by 
old  writers,  and  which  must  have  been  brought  about  by  some 
sort  of  optical  delusion,  assisted  of  course  by  the  imagination. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  with  which  I  remember  to 
have  met  is  that  told  in  the  Autobiography  of  the  celebrated 
Benvenuto  Cellini,  a  writer  who  is  generally  looked  upon  as 
worthy  of  belief.  In  his  youth  Benvenuto  fell  in  love  with  a 
courtesan,  from  whom  he  was  suddenly  separated  by  the  depar¬ 
ture  of  the  lady  from  Rome. 

“Two  months  after,’’  says  he,  “the  girl  wrote  me  word,  that 


CELLINI  AND  THE  NECROMANCER. 


139 


she  was  in  Sicily,  extremely  unhappy.  I  was  then  indulging 
myself  in  pleasures  of  all  sorts,  and  had  engaged  in  another 
amour  to  cancel  the  memory  of  my  Sicilian  mistress.  It  hap¬ 
pened,  through  a  variety  of  odd  accidents,  that  I  made  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  a  Sicilian  priest,  who  was  a  man  of  genius,  and  well 
versed  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  authors.  Happening  one  day  to 
have  some  conversation  with  him  upon  the  art  of  necromancy,  I, 
who  had  a  great  desire  to  know  something  of  the  matter,  told 
him,  that  I  had  all  my  life  felt  a  curiosity  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  mysteries  of  this  art.  The  priest  made  answer,  that  the 
man  must  be  of  a  resolute  and  steady  temper  who  enters  upon 
that  study.  I  replied,  that  I  had  fortitude  and  resolution  enough, 
if  I  could  but  find  an  opportunity.  The  priest  subjoined,  ‘  If  you 
think  you  have  the  heart  to  venture,  I  will  give  you  all  the  sat¬ 
isfaction  you  can  desire.’  Thus  we  agreed  to  undertake  this 
matter. 

“  The  priest  one  evening  prepared  to  satisfy  me,  and  desired 
me  to  look  out  for  a  companion  or  two.  I  invited  one  Vincenzo 
Romoli,  who  was  my  intimate  acquaintance  ;  he  brought  with 
him  a  native  of  Pistoia,  who  cultivated  the  black  art  himself. 
We  repaired  to  the  Colosseum,  and  the  priest,  according  to  the 
custom  of  necromancers,  began  to  draw  circles  upon  the  ground 
with  the  most  impressive  ceremonies  imaginable  ;  he  likewise 
brought  thither  assafcetida,  several  precious  perfumes,  and  fire, 
with  some  compositions  which  diffused  noisome  odors.  As 
soon  as  he  was  in  readiness,  he  made  an  opening  in  the  circle, 
and  having  taken  us  by  the  hand  one  by  one,  he  placed  us  with¬ 
in  it.  Then  having  arranged  the  other  parts  and  assumed  his 
wand,  he  ordered  the  other  necromancer,  his  partner,  to  throw 
the  perfumes  into  the  fire  at  a  proper  time,  intrusting  the  care 
of  the  fire  and  the  perfumes  to  the  rest,  and  began  his  incanta¬ 
tions.  This  ceremony  lasted  above  an  hour  and  a  half,  when 
there  appeared  several  legions  of  devils,  insomuch  that  the  am¬ 
phitheatre  was  quite  filled  with  them.  I  was  busy  about  the  per¬ 
fumes,  when  the  priest,  perceiving  there  was  a  considerable 
number  of  infernal  spirits,  turned  to  me,  and  said,  ‘  Benvenuto, 
ask  them  something.’  I  answered,  ‘Let  them  bring  me  into 
the  company  of  my  Sicilian  mistress,  Angelica.’  That  night 
we  obtained  no  answer  of  any  sort ;  but  I  had  received  great 
satisfaction  in  having  my  curiosity  so  far  indulged.  The  necro¬ 
mancer  told  me  it  was  requisite  we  should  go  a  second  time,  as¬ 
suring  me  that  I  should  be  satisfied  in  whatever  I  asked,  but 
that  I  must  bring  with  me  a  pure  and  immaculate  boy.  I  took 


140 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


with  me  a  youth,  Avho  was  in  my  service,  of  about  twelve  years 
of  age,  together  with  the  same  Vincenzo  Romoli,  who  had  been 
my  companion  the  first  time,  and  one  Agnolino  Gaddi,  an  inti- 
mate  acquaintance,  whom  I  likewise  prevailed  on  to  assist  at  the 
ceremony.  When  we  came  to  the  place  appointed,  the  first, 
having  made  his  preparations  as  before  with  the  same  and  even 
more  striking  ceremonies,  placed  us  within  the  circle,  which  ho 
had  drawn  with  a  more  wonderful  art  and  in  a  more  solemn  man¬ 
ner  than  at  our  former  meeting.  Thus  having  committed  the 
care  of  the  perfumes  and  the  fire  to  my  friend  Vincenzo,  who 
was  assisted  by  Gaddi,  he  put  into  my  hand  a  pentacolo*  or  ma¬ 
gical  chart.  The  necromancer  having  begun  to  make  his  tre¬ 
mendous  invocations,  called  by  their  names  a  multitude  of  de¬ 
mons,  w'ho  were  the  leaders  of  the  several  legions,  and  invoked 
them  by  the  virtue  and  power  of  the  eternal  uncreated  God,  who 
lives  for  ever,  insomuch  that  the  amphitheatre  was  almost  in  an 
instant  filled  with  demons  a  hundred  times  more  numerous  than 
at  the  former  conjuration.  Vincenzo  Romoli  was  busied  in 
making  a  fire  with  the  assistance  of  Agnolino,  and  burning  a 
great  quantity  of  precious  perfumes.  I,  by  the  direction  of  the 
necromancer,  again  desired  to  be  in  the  company  of  my  Angel¬ 
ica.  The  former  thereupon  turning  to  me,  said,  ‘  Know,  they 
have  declared  that  in  the  space  of  a  month  you  shall  be  in  her 
company.’  He  then  requested  me  to  stand  resolutely  by  him, 
because  the  legions  were  now  above  a  thousand  more  in  num¬ 
ber  than  he  had  designed,  and,  besides,  these  were  the  most 
dangerous,  so  that  after  they  had  answered  my  question  it  be¬ 
hooved  him  to  be  civil  to  them,  and  dismiss  them  quietly.  At 
the  same  time,  the  boy  under  the  pentacolo  was  in  a  terrible 
fright,  saying,  that  there  were  in  that  place  a  million  of  fierce 
men,  who  threatened  to  destroy  us  ;  and  that,  moreover,  four 
armed  giants  of  an  enormous  stature  were  endeavoring  to  break 
into  our  circle.  During  this  time,  while  the  necromancer, 
trembling  with  fear,  endeavored  by  mild  and  gentle  methods  to 
dismiss  them  in  the  best  way  he  could,  Vincenzo  Romoli,  who 
quivered  like  an  aspen-leaf,  took  care  of  the  perfumes.  Though 
I  was  as  much  terrified  as  any  of  them,  I  did  my  utmost  to  con¬ 
ceal  the  terror  I  felt,  so  that  I  greatly  contributed  to  inspire  the 
rest  with  resolution  ;  but  the  truth  is,  I  gave  myself  over  for  a 
dead  man,  seeing  the  horrid  fright  the  necromancer  was  in.  The 
boy  placed  his  head  between  his  knees,  and  said,  ‘  In  this  pos¬ 
ture  will  I  die ;  for  we  shall  all  surely  perish.’  I  told  him  that 
*  A  preservative  against  the  power  of  demons. 


CELLINI  AND  THE  NECROMANCER. 


141 


all  those  demons  were  under  us,  and  wliat  he  saw  was  smoke 
and  shadow  ;  so  bid  him  hold  up  his  head  and  take  courage. 
No  sooner  did  he  look  up,  but  he  cried  out,  ‘  The  whole  amphi¬ 
theatre  is  burning,  and  the  fire  is  just  falling  upon  us  so  cover¬ 
ing  his  face  with  his  hands,  he  again  exclaimed  that  destruction 
was  inevitable,  and  he  desired  to  see  no  more.  The  necroman¬ 
cer  entreated  me  to  have  a  good  heart,  and  take  care  to  burn 
proper  perfumes  ;  upon  which  I  turned  to  Ilomoli,  and  bid  him 
burn  all  the  most  precious  perfumes  he  had.  At  the  same  time 
I  cast  my  eye  upon  Agnolino  Gaddi,  who  was  terrified  to  such  a 
degree,  that  he  could  scarce  distinguish  objects,  and  seemed  to  be 
half  dead.  Seeing  him  in  this  condition,  I  said,  ‘Agnolino,  upon 
these  occasions  a  man  should  not  yield  to  fear,  but  should  stir 
about  and  give  his  assistance  ;  so  come  directly  and  put  on  some 
more  of  these  perfumes.’  Poor  Agnolino,  upon  attempting  to 
move,  was  so  violently  terrified,  that  the  effects  of  his  fear  over¬ 
powered  all  the  perfumes  we  were  burning.  The  boy  hearing 
a  crepitation,  ventured  once  more  to  raise  his  head,  when  seeing 
me  laugh,  he  began  to  take  courage,  and  said  that  the  devils  were 
flying  away  with  a  vengeance.  • 

“  In  this  condition  we  stayed  till  the  bell  rang  for  morning 
prayer.  The  necromancer  again  told  us  that  there  remained  but 
few  devils,  and  these  were  at  a  great  distance.  When  the  ma¬ 
gician  had  performed  the  rest  of  his  ceremonies,  he  stripped  off 
his  gown,  and  took  up  a  wallet  full  of  books  which  he  had 
brought  wtth  him.  We  all  went  out  of  the  circle  together,  keep¬ 
ing  as  close  to  each  other  as  we  possibly  could,  especially  the 
boy,  who  had  placed  himself  in  the  middle,  holding  the  necro¬ 
mancer  by  the  coat  and  me  by  the  cloak.  As  we  were  going  to 
our  houses  in  the  quarter  of  Banchi,  the  boy  told  us  that  two  of 
the  demons  whom  we  had  seen  at  the  amphitheatre  went  on  be¬ 
fore  us  singing  and  skipping,  sometimes  running  upon  the  roofs 
of  the  houses,  and  sometimes  upon  the  ground.  The  priest  de¬ 
clared,  that  though  he  had  often  entered  magic  circles,  nothing 
so  extraordinary  had  ever  happened  to  him.  As  we  went  along 
he  would  fain  have  persuaded  me  to  assist  with  him  at  consecra¬ 
ting  a  book  from  which  he  said  we  should  derive  immense 
riches  ;  we  should  then  ask  the  demons  to  discover  to  us  the  va¬ 
rious  treasures  with  which  the  earth  abounds,  which  would  raise 
us  to  opulence  and  power ;  but  that  those  love  affairs  were  mere 
follies,  from  whence  no  good  could  be  expected.  I  answered, 
that  ‘  I  would  have  readily  accepted  his  proposal,  if  I  had  under¬ 
stood  Latin.’  He  redoubled  his  persuasions,  assuring  me  that 


142 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  was  by  no  means  material. 
He  added,  that  he  could  have  found  Latin  scholars  enough,  if  he 
had  thought  it  worth  while  to  look  out  for  them,  but  that  he  coidd 
never  have  met  with  a  partner  of  resolution  and  intrepidity  equal 
to  mine,  and  that  I  should  by  all  means  follow  his  advice. 
While  we  were  engaged  in  this  conversation,  we  arrived  at  our 
respective  homes,  and  all  that  night  I  dreamed  of  nothing  but 
devils. 

“  As  I  every  day  saw  the  priest,  he  did  not  fail  to  renew  his 
solicitations  to  engage  me  to  come  into  his  proposal.  I  asked 
him  what  time  it  would  take  to  carry  his  plan  into  execution, 
and  where  this  scene  was  to  be  acted.  He  answered,  that  in 
less  than  a  month  we  might  complete  it,  and  that  the  place  best 
calculated  for  our  purpose  was  the  mountains  of  Norcia;  though 
a  master  of  his  had  performed  the  ceremony  of  consecration 
hard  by  the  mountains  of  the  abbey  of  Farfa,  but  that  he  had  met 
with  some  difficulties  which  would  not  occur  in  those  of  Norcia. 
He  added,  that  the  neighboring  peasants  were  men  who  might 
be  confided  in,  and  had  some  knowledge  of  necromancy,  inso- 
mucluthat  they  were  likely  to  give  us  great  assistance  upon  oc¬ 
casion.  Such  an  effect  had  the  persuasions  of  this  holy  conjurer, 
that  I  readily  agreed  to  all  that  he  desired,  but  told  him,  that  I 
should  be  glad  to  finish  the  medal  I  was  making  for  the  pope 
first.  This  secret  I  communicated  to  him,  but  to  nobody  else, 
and  begged  he  would  not.  divulge  it.  I  constantly  asked  him 
whether  he  thought  I  should,  at  the  time  mentioned  by  the  devil, 
have  an  interview  with  my  mistress  Angelica;  and  finding  it  ap¬ 
proach,  I  was  surprised  to  hear  no  tidings  of  her.  The  priest 
always  assured  me  that  I  should  without  fail  enjoy  her  company 
as  the  demons  never  break  their  promise,  when  they  make  it  in 
the  solemn  manner  they  had  done  to  me.  He  bid  me,  therefore, 
wait  patiently,  and  avoid  giving  room  to  any  scandal  upon  that 
occasion,  but  make  an  effort  to  bear  something  against  my  na¬ 
ture,  as  he  was  aware  of  the  great  danger  I  was  to  encounter ; 
adding,  that  it  would  be  happy  for  me  if  I  would  go  with  him  to 
consecrate  the  book,  as  it  would  be  the  way  to  obviate  the  dan¬ 
ger,  and  could  not  fail  to  make  both  him  and  me  happy.” 

Immediately  after  this,  Benvenuto  Cellini  fell  into  so  danger¬ 
ous  a  scrape  at  Rome,  that  he  was  obliged  to  fly,  and  taking  his 
route  to  Naples,  he  there  accidentally  met  with  his  mistress  on 
the  last  day  of  the  month  predicted  by  the  necromancer. 


THE  ENGLISH  MAGICIANS. 


143 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  ENGLISH  MAGICIANS  :  DR.  DEE  AND  HIS  FOLLOWERS. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  means  employed  to  produce 
the  effects  described  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  chapter,  there 
must  have  been  a  great  and  general  tendency  to  belief  on  the 
part  of  those  to  whom  they  were  exhibited.  This  credulity  seems 
to  have  risen  to  its  greatest  height  at  the  time  of  the  Reforma¬ 
tion,  as  though,  when  the  mind  had  been  suddenly  relieved  from 
intellectual  restraint,  it  overleaped,  in  the  first  burst  of  liberty, 
every  bound  to  which  sober  reason  would  naturally  confine  it. 
When  we  see  men  of  the  greatest  talents  and  the  most  profound 
learning,  shutting  themselves  in  their  secret  studies  to  push  their 
anxious  researches  beyond  the  limits  of  natural  knowledge,  and 
hear  them  talking  soberly  of  their  intercourse  with  spirits  of  an¬ 
other  world  and  with  their  rulers,  we  are  almost  driven  to  believe 
that  the  world  had  been  suddenly  deluged  with  a  host  of  demons 
who  amused  themselves  with  turning  to  mockery  the  intellectual 
powers  of  the  human  race.  Nor  perhaps  was  this  mental  infat¬ 
uation  entirely  without  its  use,  for  we  must  not  forget  that  we 
owe  some  of  our  fundamental  discoveries  in  science  to  the  ma¬ 
gicians  ol  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  and  that  one 
61  the  most  universally  necessary  articles  of. the  present  day,  our 
almanacs,  are  derived  from  the  astrologers. 

There  is  something  extraordinary  in  the  rage  for  the  study  of 
what  were  called  the  occult  sciences,  which  manifested  itself  at 
the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking.  In  our  own  country, 
Caius,  the  founder  of  a  college  of  learning  in  one  of  our  univer¬ 
sities,  Dee,  one  of  the  first  mathematicians  of  his  age,  and  many 
of  the  wisest  and  best  among  their  contemporaries,  gave  implicit 
belief  to  the  science  which  enabled  them  to  invoke  and  constrain 
the  spiritual  world.  The  doings  and  thoughts  of  those  who  spe¬ 
cially  dedicated  themselves  to  such  pursuits,  form  a  singular  chap¬ 
ter  in  the  history  of  human  intelligence. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these,  certainly,  was  Dr.  John 
Dee.  This  celebrated  personage  was  born  in  London  in  the 
year  1527.  With  a  mind  full  of  energy  and  ambition,  he  studied 
with  an  eagerness  and  success  that  soon  raised  him  to  reputation 
in  the  universities  of  England  and  the  continent.  He  is  said  to 


144 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


have  imbibed  his  taste  for  the  occult  sciences,  which  his  imagi¬ 
native  mind  retained  during  his  life,  while  a  student  at  Louvaine  ; 
yet  it  is  singular  that  one  of  his  earliest  writings  was  a  defence 
of  Roger  Bacon  against  the  imputation  of  having  leagued  with 
demons  to  obtain  his  extraordinary  knowledge.  Under  the  reign 
of  Mary,  Dee  was  in  close  correspondence  with  the  princess 
Elizabeth,  who  from  her  childhood  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
love  of  learning  and  learned  men  ;  and  for  this  intimacy,  the 
young  philosopher  became  an  object  of  suspicion,  and  was  thrown 
into  prison.  Elizabeth  preserved  her  attachment  for  him  during 
her  life,  and  perhaps  she  had  received  from  him  the  leaning  to 
superstition  which  she  exhibited  on  more  than  one  remarkable 
occasion.  On  her  accession  to  the  throne,  the  virgin  que.en  con¬ 
sulted  with  him  to  fix  a  fortunate  day  for  her  coronation  ;  and  sub¬ 
sequently,  when  an  image  of  wax  in  her  resemblance  was  found 
in  Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields,  Dee  was  called  to  her  chamber  to  exer¬ 
cise  his  science  in  counteracting  the  charm. 

In  his  preface  to  Euclid,  printed  in  1570,  Dee  complains  that 
he  was  already  reputed  a  conjurer.  In  the  meager  diary  edited 
by  Mr.  Halliwell,  and  in  such  of  Dee’s  papers  as  have  been  pre¬ 
served,  we  find  him  paying  attention  to  his  dreams,  to  strange 
noises  which  he  fancied  he  heard  at  times  in  his  chamber,  and 
to  other  matters  of  a  similar  description.  In  this  diary,  under 
the  date  of  May  25,  1581,  he  says,  that  he  then  first  saw  in  a 
crystal.  It  was  one  of  the  usual  methods  of  raising  spirits  at 
this  time  to  bring  them  into  a  glass  or  stone,  duly  prepared  for 
the  purpose.  One  of  Dr.  Dee’s  conjuring  stones  is  still  pre¬ 
served ;  it  was  sold  at  the  Strawberry  Hill  sale.*  The  particu¬ 
lar  branch  of  magic,  which  he  followed  was  that  termed  theurgy, 
which  taught  that  by  a  proper  disposition  of  mind,  joined  with 
purity  of  life,  cleanliness  of  person,  and  other  conditions,  a  man 
might  be  placed  in  visible  communication  with  good  spirits,  and 
receive  their  counsel  and  assistance.  With  such  views,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  a  man  like  John  Dee  should  be  the  easy  dupe 
of  the  first  bold  and  cunning  man  who  undertook  to  practise  on 
his  credulity. 

Such  a  man  evidently  was  Edward  Kelly.  He  was,  it  seems, 

*  This  was  evidently  not  the  stone  which  he  used  in  his  conferences  with  the  spirits, 
with  Edward  Kelly  tor  his  “  skryer,”  as  that  was  a  globe  of  crystal.  That  even  in 
ancient  times  optical  delusions  were  practised  to  make  the  uninitiated  believe  in  the 
appearance  of  spirits,  is  evident  from  the  singular  doctrine  of  the  old  rabbinical  wri¬ 
ters,  that  when  spirits  were  raised  they  always  appeared  in  a  reversed  position,  with 
their  heads  downward,  and  their  feet  in  the  air. — See  the  Introduction  to  Casau- 
ban's  edition  of  Dee’s  Conference  with  Spirits. 


DR., DEE  AND  HIS  SKRYERS. 


145 


a  native  of  Lancashire,  born,  according  to  Dee’s  own  statement, 
in  1 555,  but  we  find  bun  subsequently  living  at  Worcester  in 
the  profession  of  a  druggist.  He  was  a  man  of  ill  repute,  had 
been  convicted  at  Lancaster  of  coining,  and  been  punished  with 
the  loss  of  his  ears,  and  he  appears  to  have  found  it  necessary 
to  remove  from  his  native  county.  He  was  known  as  an  alche¬ 
mist  and  a  conjurer  before  he  became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Dee. 
A  story  has  been  preserved,  told  on  good  authority,  which  shows 
to  what  an  extent  these  practices  had  been  carried.  One  night 
Kelly  took  a  man  who  was  anxious  to  pierce  the  mysteries  of 
the  future,  with  certain  of  his  servants,  into  the  park  of  Walton 
le  Dale,  near  Preston,  in  Lancashire,  and  there  gratified  his  de¬ 
sk  e  by  means  ol  necromancy.  When  his  incantations  were 
ended,  Kelly  inquired  ot  one  of  the  servants  whose  corpse  had 
been  last  interred  in  the  churchyard  adjoining;  and  being  told 
that  a  poor  man  had  been  buried  there  the  same  day,  they  dug 
up  the  body,  and  the  conjurer  made  it  speak  and  deliver  sundry 
“  strange  predictions.” 

At  the  period  when  he  became  acquainted  with  Kelly,  Dee 
Avas  living  at  his  house  at  Mortlake  in  Surrey,  with  his  young 
Avife,  whom  he  had  married  in  1578.  He  Avas  looking  out  for 
an  assistant  in  his  studies,  fitted  to  serve  the  office  of  inspector 
of  his  glass,  or,  as  it  Avas  termed,  skryer,  a  name  not  as  D’Israeli 
supposed,  invented  by  Dee.  It  appears  that  it  was  always  neces¬ 
sary  to  have  an  assistant  to  perform  this  office,  who  alone  com¬ 
muned  with  the  spirits,  and  repeated  Avhat  he  saw  or  heard.  In 
a  manuscript  of  Dee’s  proceedings,  preserved  in  the  British  mu¬ 
seum,*  we  find  copies  of  prayers  with  a  \'iew  to  these  purposes, 
dated  in  1569  and  1579,  but  his  first  skryer  of  whom  there  is 
any  mention,  was  named  Barnabas  Saul.  In  the  diary  already 
mentioned,  Dee  has  noted  down  on  the  9th  of  October,  1581,  that 
Barnabas  Saul  was  “  strangely  troubled  by  a  spiritual  creature 
about  midnight.”  On  the  6th  of  March  following,  Saul  “  con¬ 
fessed  that  he  neither  heard  nor  saw  any  spiritual  creature  any 
more.”  At  this  time  Saul  and  his  employer  were  evidently  much 
dissatisfied  with  each  other,  and  it  was  probably  not  long  after 
when  they  parted.  In  the  manuscript  just  quoted,  Dee  has  set 
down  his  magical  proceedings  on  the  2d  of  December,  1581,  and 
he  begins  with  the  statement,  “  I  willed  the  skryer  (named  Saul) 
to  looke  into  my  great  chrystalline  globe,  if  God  had  sent  his 
holy  angel  Anael,  or  no.”  Saul  looked,  and,  as  the  narrative 

This  curious  manuscript,  which  contains  the  journal  of  Dee's  earlier  conferences 
With  spirits,  is  the  Sloane  MS.,  No.  3677. 


13 


146 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


goes  on  to  say,  he  saw  the  angel  Anael.  It  was  probably  Dee’s 
own  assistant  who  spread  abroad  the  reports  of  his  being  a  con¬ 
jurer.  On  the  9th  of  March,  1582,  Dee  has  made  an  entry  in 
his  diary,  that,  “at  dinner-time  Mr.  Clerkson  and  Mr.  Talbot 
declared  a  great  deal  of  Barnabas’s  naughty  dealing  toward  me 
.  .  .  His  friend  told  me,  before  my  wife  and  Mr.  Clerkson,  that 
a  spiritual  creature  told  him  that  Barnabas  had  censured  both 
Mr.  Clerkson  and  me.”  In  the  manuscript  of  the  British  mu¬ 
seum,  we  find  Edward  Talbot  exercising  the  office  of  skryer  to 
Dr.  Dee  during  a  great  part  of  the  year  1582,  and  as  Edward 
Kelly  was  certainly  “  skrying”  at  the  same  time,  it  is  not  improb¬ 
able  that  they  are  one  and  the  same  person.  Weaver  speaks  of 
him  as  “  Kelly,  otherwise  called  Talbot,”  so  that  he  seems  to 
have  passed  under  both  names.  From  the  time  of  his  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  Kelly,  Dr.  Dee  kept  a  regular  journal  of  all  that  passed 
in  his  conferences  with  the  spirits,  the  earlier  portion  of  which 
is  preserved  in  the  manuscript  in  the  British  museum,  and  the 
latter  part  was  printed  by  Meric  Casauban,  in  1659. 

Kelly  soon  proved  himself  a  very  skilful  skryer,  and  he  seems 
to  have  used  the  greatest  cunning  in  practising  upon  Dee’s  cre¬ 
dulity,  and  insinuating  himself  into  his  confidence.  He  pre¬ 
tended  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  the  work  he  was  employed  in, 
and  expressed  from  time  to  time  his  suspicions  of  the  character 
of  the  spirits  with  whom  they  were  dealing.  Dee  gives  an  ac¬ 
count  of  one  of  their  quarrels  that  happened  in  the  April  of 
1582,  soon  after  the  dinner  party  described  above;  Kelly  not 
only  expressed  his  belief  that  the  spirits  who  came  into  the  glass 
were  demons  sent  to  hurry  them  to  their  destruction,  but  he  com¬ 
plained  that  he  was  kept  in  Dee’s  house  as  in  a  prison,  that  “  it 
were  better  for  him  to  be  near  Cotsall  Plain,  where  he  might 
walk  abroad  without  danger.”-  The  feelings  of  the  doctor  seem 
to  have  been  much  hurt  at  the  doubts  thus  cast  on  the  respecta¬ 
bility  of  his  spiritual  visiters. 

During  this  and  the  following  year,  Dee’s  conferences  with 
the  spirits  were  very  frequent.  It  appears  that  he  consulted 
them  sometimes  for  himself,  and  sometimes  for  others,  and  they 
often  came  when  not  called  for.  In  the  year  1583,  Albert  Las- 
ki,  or  Alaski,  waiwode  or  prince  of  Siradia,  in  Poland,  paid  a 
visit  to  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  became  a  frequent  vis¬ 
iter  at  Dee’s  house  at  Mortlake,  where  he  was  initiated  into  these 
spiritual  mysteries.  Kelly  seems  to  have  harbored  strange  and 
ambitious  projects  to  be  carried  into  effect  through  Laski,  or  some 
of  the  German  princes,  and  he  began  to  work  upon  his  imagination 


THE  SPIRITUAL  VISITANT. 


147 


by  the  revelations  of  Dee’s  magic  stone.  From  this  moment  the 
spirits  could  be  brought  to  talk  of  little  but  revolutions  and  migh¬ 
ty  convulsions  which  were  speedily  to  take  place  in  Europe. 
On  the  28th  of  May,  1583,  Dee  and  Kelly  were  sitting  together 
in  the  study,  talking  of  the  Polish  prince  and  his  affairs.  “  Sud¬ 
denly,”  Dee  tells  us,  “  there  seemed  to  come  out  of  my  oratory  a 
spiritual  creature,  like  a  pretty  girl  of  seven  or  nine  years  of  age, 
attired  on  her  head  with  her  hair  rowled  up  before,  and  hanging 
down  very  long  behind,  with  a  gown  of  sey.  .  .  s  .  changeable 
gieen  and  red,  and  with  a  train;  she  see'med  to  play  up  and 
down,  and  seemed  to  go  in  and  out  behind  my  books,  lying  on 
heaps,  and  as  she  should  ever  go  between  them,  the  books  seemed 
to  give  place  sufficiently,  dividing  one  heap  from  the  other,  while 
she  passed  between  them.  And  so  I  considered,  and  heard  the 
diverse  reports  which  E.  K.  made  unto  this  pretty  maiden,  and 
I  said,  ‘  Whose  maiden  are  you?’ 

“  She.  Whose  man  are  you  ? 

“  D.  I  am  the  servant  of  God,  both  by  my  bound  duty,  and 
also  (I  hope)  by  his  adoption. 

“  (A  J  oyce.  You  shall  be  beaten  if  you  tell.) 

She.  Am  not  I  a  fine  maiden  ?  give  me  leave  to  play  in  your 
house  ;  my  mother  told  me  she  would  come  and  dwell  here. 

“  D.  She  went  up  and  down  with  most  lively  gestures  of  a 
young  girl  playing  by  herself,  and  divers  times  another  spake  to 
her  from  the  corner  of  my  study  by  a  great  perspective  glasse, 
but  none  was  seen  beside  herself. 

She.  Shall  I?  I  will.  ( Note  she  seemed  to  answer  one  in 
the  fore  said  corner  of  the  study.)  I  pray  you  let  me  tarry  a  little 
(speaking  to  one  in  the  foresaid  corner). 

“  D.  Tell  me  what  you  are. 

“  She.  I  pray  you  let  me  play  with  you  a  little,  and  I  will  tell 
you  who  I  am. 

11  D.  In  the  name  of  Jesus,  then,  tell  me. 

“  She.  I  rejoyce  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  I  am  a  poor  little 
maiden,  Madimi ;  I  am  the  last  but  one  of  my  mother’s  children  ; 

I  have  little  baby  children  at  home. 

“  D.  Where  is  your  home  ? 

“  Mad.  I  dare  not  tell  you  where  I  dwell,  I  shall  be  beaten. 

“  D.  You  shall  not  be  beaten  for  telling  the  truth  to  them  that 
love  the  truth ;  to  the  eternal  truth  all  creatures  must  be  obedient. 

“  Mad.  I  warrant  you  I  will  be  obedient ;  my  sisters  say  they 
must  all  come  and  dwell  with  you. 


148 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


“  D.  I  desire  that  they  who  love  God  should  dwell  with  me, 
and  I  with  them. 

“  Mad.  1  love  you  now  you  talk  of  God. 

“  D.  Your  eldest  sister — her  name  is  Esimeli. 

“Mad.  My  sister  is  not  so  short  as  you  make  her. 

“  D.  Oh,  I  cry  you  mercy !  she  is  to  be  pronounced  Esimeli. 

“  E.  K.  She  smileth  ;  one  calls  her,  saying,  ‘  Come  away, 
maiden.’ 

“  Mad.  I  will  read  over  my  gentlewomen  first ;  my  master 
Dee  will  teach  me  if  I  say  amiss. 

“  D.  Read  over  your  gentlewomen,  as  it  pleaseth  you. 

“Mad.  1  have  gentlemen  and  gentlewomen,  look  you  here. 

“  E.  K.  She  bringeth  a  little  book  out  of  her  pocket.  She 
pointeth  to  a  picture  in  the  book. 

“  Mad.  Is  not  this  a  pretty  man; 

“  D.  What  is  his  name  1 

“  Mad.  My  [mother]  saith  his  name  is  Edward  ;  look  you,  he 
hath  a  crown  upon  his  head ;  my  mother  saith  that  this  man  was 
duke  of  York.” 

Such  is  the  style  in  which  these  extraordinary  revelations 
commence.  In  the  earlier  books  their  objects  were  generally 
matters  of  much  less  importance ;  but  Kelly  seems  to  have 
formed  some  wild  notions  of  universal  monarchy,  like  that  of 
the  older  anabaptists  of  Munster,  and  to  have  imagined  that  the 
Polish  prince  Lasky  was  the  man  to  carry  out  this  purpose  ; 
and  from  this  time  all  his  visions  tended  to  this  point.  Madimi, 
who  was  now  one  of  their  most  constant  visiters,  proceeds  in  the 
scene  just  described  to  convince  them,  by  a  sort  of  pictorial 
pedigree,  that  Lasky  was  descended  from  the  Anglo-Norman 
family  of  the  Lacies.  There  is  something  very  extraordinary, 
and  certainly  great  force  of  imagination,  in  the  grouping  and 
character  of  the  spirits  by  whom  Dee  imagined  that  he  was  vis¬ 
ited,  which  exhibits  to  us  the  peculiar  talents  of  Edward  Kelly. 
When  they  next  consulted  the  stone,  which  was  on  the  second 
of  June,  they  were  favored  with  a  vision  of  one  like  a  husband¬ 
man,  who  talks  mystically  of  the  wickedness  of  the  world,  and 
general  regeneration  which  is  to  be  effected  through  Albert 
Lasky.  This  husbandman  is  an  angel  named  Murifri,  to  whom, 
at  the  close  of  this  interview,  Dee,  descending  to  more  common¬ 
place  subjects,  presented  petitions  for  a  woman  who  in  a  fit  of 
desperation  had  attempted  to  commit  suicide,  and  for  another 
who  had  dreamed  of  a  treasure  buried  in  a  cellar.  Several  fol¬ 
lowing  revelations  relate  chiefly  to  the  state  of  the  world,  to  the 


QUARRELS  OF  DEE  AND  KELLY. 


119 


approaching  revolution  and  regeneration,  and  to  a  book  of  the 
new  law  which  was  to  be  communicated  to  them.  Another 
spirit,  in  the  form  of  a  maiden,  named  Galuah,  shows  herself, 
and  gives  them  still  more  definite  information  on  Albert  Lasky’s' 
future  fortunes. 

“  Gal.  ...  I  say  unto  thee ,  his  name  is  in  the  hook  of  life. 
The  sun  shall  not  passe  his  course  before  he  be  a  king.  His 
counsel  shall  breed  alteration  of  his  state  ;  yea  of  the  whole 
world.  What  wouldst  thou  know  of  him  ? 

“  D.  It  his  kingdom  shall  be  of  Poland,  or  what  land  else.? 

“  Gal.  Of  two  kingdoms. 

“  D.  Which,  I  beseech  you  ? 

“Gal.  The  one  thou  hast  repeated,  and  the  other  he  seeketh 
as  right. 


“  D.  Go^  grant  him  sufficient  direction  to  do  all  things  so  as 
may  please  the  highest  of  his  calling. 

“  Gal.  He  shall  want  no  direction  in  anything  he  desireth. 

“  D.  As  concerning  the  troubles  of  August  next,  and  the  dan¬ 
gers  then,  what  is  the  best  for  him  to  do  ?  to  be  going  home  be¬ 
fore,  or  to  tarry  here  ? 

“  Gal.  Whom  God  hath  armed,  no  man  can  prevail  against.” 

Kelly  now  again  began  to  pretend  scruples  as  to  the  propriety 
of  their  dealing  with  the  spirits,  whom  he  believed  were  devils  ; 
and  he  threatened  once  or  twice  to  desert  the'  doctor,  who,  how¬ 
ever,  kept  a  close  watch  upon  him.  One  day,  at  the  end  of 
June,  Kelly  announced  his  intention  of  riding  on  some  business 
or  other  from  Mortlake  to  Islington.  “  My  heart  did  throb  often¬ 
times  this  day,”  says  Dee,  “  and  thought  that  Edward  Kelly  did 
intend  to  absent  himself  from  me,  and  now  upon  this  morning  I 
was  confirmed,  and  more  assured  that  it  was  so  ;  whereupon 
seeing  him  make  such  haste  to  ride  to  Islington,  I  asked  him 
why  he  so  hasted  to  ride  thither,  and  I  said,  ‘  If  it  were  to  ride 
to  Mr.  Harry  Lee,  I  would  go  thither  also  to  be  acquainted  with 
him,  seeing  now  I  had  so  good  leisure,  being  eased  of  the  book¬ 
writing.’  Then  he  said,  that  one  told  him  the  other  day  that 
the  duke  [Lasky]  did  but  flatter  him,  and  told  him  other  things 
both  against  the  duke  and  me.  I  answered  for  the  duke  and 
myself,  and  also  said,  that  if  the  forty  pounds  annuity  which *Mr. 
Lee  did  offer  him,  was  the  chief  cause  of  his  minde  setting  that 
way  (contrary  to  many  of  his  former  promises  to  me),  that  then 
I  would  assure  him  of  fifty  pounds  yearly,  and  would  do  my  best, 
by  following  of  my  sute,  to  bring  it  to  passe  as  soon  as  possibly 
I  could and  thereupon  did  make  him  promise  upon  the  Bible. 


150 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Then  Edward  Kelly  again  upon  the  same  Bible  did  swear  unto 
me  constant  friendship,  and  never  to  forsake  me  ;  and  moreover 
said,  ‘  that  unlesse  this  had  so  fain  out,  he  would  have  gone  be¬ 
yond  the  seas,  taking  ship  at  Newcastle  within  eight  days  next.’ 
And  so  we  plight  our  faith  each  to  other,  taking  each  other  by 
the  hand  upon  these  points  of  brotherly  and  friendly  fidelity 
during  life,  which  covenant  I  beseech  God  to  turn  to  his  honor, 
glory,  and  service,  and  the  comfort  of  our  brethren  (his  chil¬ 
dren)  here  in  earth.” 

Kelly  seems  at  this  time  to  have  been  unhappy  in  his  domestic 
affairs,  and  to  have  been  in  fear  of  arrest,  and  he  still  talked  of 
leaving  Dee’s  service.  In  a  fit  of  anger,  at  the  beginning  of 
July,  he  offered  to  release  Dee  of  his  engagement  of  fifty  pounds 
a  year,  declared  that  he  hated  his  own  wife,  and  wished  to  be 
away.  All  this,  except  the  want  of  love  for  his  wifq,  was  mere 
dissimulation  ;  he  did  not  go,  but  in  the  next  conference  with 
the  spiritual  world,  he  declared  that  he  had  been  rebuked  for  his 
discontent. 

At  length,  all  preparations  having  been  made  for  the  journey, 
Dee  and  Kelly,  with  their  two  wives  and  families,  left  Mortlake 
to  accompany  Albert  Lasky  into  Poland,  where  they  hoped  to 
share  in  the  great  fortunes  which  had  been  promised  him.  They 
consulted  their  spirits,  even  when  at  sea,  and  apparently  with 
the  utmost  satisfaction.  They  landed  at  the  Brill  on  the  30th  of 
the  same  month,  and  proceeded  through  Holland  and  Friesland 
to  Embden  and  Bremen,  and  so  to  Lubeck,  where  they  remained 
during  the  latter  part  of  November  and  the  beginning  of  Decem¬ 
ber.  On  Christmas-day  they  reached  Stettin  in  Pomerania, 
where  they  remained  till  the  middle  of  January.  During  their 
travels,  they  were  favored  with  many  wonderful  revelations  of 
events  which  were  soon  to  occur,  most  of  them  pointing  to  the 
extraordinary  fortunes  which  awaited  the  Polish  prince. 

At  Stettin,  on  the  13th  of  January,  the  angel  Uriel  appeared 
to  them,  and  assured  them  of  the  approaching  advent  of  anti¬ 
christ.  Early  in  February,  they  reached  Lasco,  the  prince’s 
lordship,  and  here  they  began  to  be  affected  with  doubts  if  Al¬ 
bert  Lasky  were  indeed  the  destined  regenerator.  They  seem 
to  have  been  deceived  as  to  his  riches  and  power,  and  it  was  re¬ 
vealed  to  them  that  on  account  of  his  faults  he  had  been  in  part 
rejected,  but  that  he  would  eventually  obtain  the  kingdom  of 
Moldavia.  Dee  was  now  directed  by  the  spirits  to  leave  Lasco, 
and  take  up  his  residence  at  Cracow.  Thither  accordingly  they 
all  repaired  toward  the  middle  of  the  March  of  1584,  and  they 


QUARRELS  OF  DEE  AND  KELLY. 


151 


remained  there  till  the  end  of  July.  During  this  period  the 
doubts  relating  to  Lasky  produced  an  almost  daily  appeal  to  the 
spirits.  Sometimes  the  Polish  prince  seemed  restored  to  favor, 
at  other  times  he  was  in  discredit,  until  at  length,  after  Dee  and 
his  party  had  been  reduced  to  great  distress  for  want  of  money, 
Lasky’s  final  rejection  was  announced,  and  Dee  was  sent  with 
a  divine  message  to  the  emperor  Rodolph.  Dee  and  Kelly  were 
at  the  same  time  directed  by  their  spirits  to  remove  from  Cra¬ 
cow  to  Prague. 

During  their  residence  at  Cracow,  there  were  several  violent 
disputes  between  Dee  and  Kelly,  resulting  from  the  pretended 
doubts  of  the  latter  as  to  the  character  of  the  spirits  with  whom 
they  conversed.  The  object  of  these  doubts  was  evidently  to 
drag  Dee  more  entirely  into  Kelly’s  power,  by  practising  upon 
his  credulity.  On  the  23d  of  May,  Dee  has  noted  that  “  there 
happened  a  great  storm  or  temptation  to  Edward  Kelly  of  doubt¬ 
ing  and  misliking  our  instructors  and  their  doings,  and  of  con¬ 
temning  and  condemning  anything  that  I  knew  or  could  do.  I 
bare  all  things  patiently  for  God  his  sake.”  When  Kelly  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  consult  the  spirits,  he  was  rebuked  for  his  doubts. 
Next  day,  these  doubts  returned,  and  he  refused  to  continue  his 
performances.  But  on  the  28th  of  May,  he  performed  the  office 
of  skryer  again,  and  was  further  rebuked  for  his  disbelief.  At 
the  beginning  of  June,  Kelly  is  represented  as  being  entirely 
converted  from  his  evil  thoughts  ;  yet  about  a  fortnight  afterward 
we  find  him  again  in  “  great  temptation,”  which  was  followed 
by  another  declaration  of  penitence. 

At  Prague  the  visions  of  political  changes  in  the  world  became 
again  more  frequent  and  vivid  ;  but,  though  Dee  was  received 
at  the  imperial  court  with  respect  as  a  philosopher  of  reputation, 
he  appears  to  have  been  regarded  only  as  a  visionary  dreamer 
in  respect  of  his  pretended  mission.  At  this  period,  hints  were 
now  and  then  thrown  out  by  the  spirits  of  Dee’s  own  unworthi¬ 
ness,  because  he  was  not  always  sufficiently  credulous  and 
obedient,  and  denunciations  were  pronounced  against  the  em¬ 
peror. 

During  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  Dee  and  his 
party  were  often  in  great  poverty,  and  we  are  therefore  not  sur¬ 
prised  at  the  anxiety  he  frequently  evinced  to  obtain  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  philosopher’s  stone,  which  was  now  a  great  object 
of  their  search.  According  to  a  story  preserved  by  Lilly,  Kelly 
cheated  his  master  of  this  knowledge,  and  appropriated  the  dis¬ 
covery  to  himself.  Frequent  quarrels  occurred  at  this  time  be- 


152 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tween  Dee  and  Kelly,  and  tlie  doctor  appears  to  have  been  afraid 
of  losing  his  assistant. 

In  the  May  of  1586,  the  bishop  of  Piacenza,  who  was  residing 
in  Austria  as  apostolical  nuncio,  procured  from  the  emperor  an 
order  forbidding  Dee  to  remain  any  longer  in  his  dominions  ;  upon 
which  he  went  to  Erfurdt,  and  being  ill-received  there,  proceed¬ 
ed  to  Cassel.  Dee  appears  to  have  harbored  at  this  time  the 
project  of  going  to  Italy,  but  he  was  deterred  by  the  intelligence 
that  he  had  been  accused  at  Rome  of  heresy  and  magic.  In  the 
autumn  of  1586,  Kelly  left  Dee  for  a  time  to  repair  to  Bohemia; 
and  when  the  emperor’s  orders  against  the  conjurers  appear  to 
have  been  relaxed,  Dee  followed  him.  In  1587,  they  were  at 
the  castle  of  Trebone,  in  Bohemia,  again  consulting  the  spirits, 
but  with  less  satisfaction  than  ever.  In  the  April  of  the  year 
last  mentioned,  Kelly  appears  to  have  made  up  his  mind  to  resign 
his  office  of  “  skryer,”  and  they  proceeded  to  initiate  Dee’s  son, 
Arthur,  into  the  mystery,  but  as  it  would  seem  without  much 
success. 

So  far,  Dr.  Dee  appears  to  have  been  the  mere  tool  of  Kelly’s 
ambition,  and  now  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  longer  hopes  of 
success  in  llieir  designs,  the  “  skryer”  determined  to  leave  him. 
He  prepared,  however,  one  last  trial  for  his  master’s  credulity. 
Mrs.  Jane  Dee  was  of  the  same  age  as  Kelly,  and  was  conse¬ 
quently  much  younger  than  her  husband.  Kelly  had  often  pro¬ 
fessed  dislike  to  his  own  wife,  but  he  appears  to  have  had  other 
feelings  toward  the  wife  of  his  employer.  On  the  18th  of  April, 
1587,  while  they  were  still  at  Trebone,  in  Bohemia,  a  revelation 
was  made  in  the  glass  to  the  effect  that  it  was  God’s  pleasure  the 
two  philosophers  should  have  a  community  of  wives.  Dee  was 
shocked,  and  Kelly  professed  the  utmost  abhorrence  to  that  doc¬ 
trine,  yet  the  revelations  were  repeated  ;  they  were  told  that  sin 
was  but  a  relative  thing,  and  could  not  be  bad  if  ordered  or  al¬ 
lowed  by  God,  with  other  doctrines  of  the  anabaptists  of  those 
days,  and  of  the  socialists  of  the  present ;  and  finally,  they  opened 
the  secret  to  their  wives,  and  obtained  their  concurrence,  though 
not  without  some  reluctance.  Dee  has  noted  in  the  journal  of 
his  proceedings,  “  That  on  Sunday,  the  3d  of  May,  anno,  1587 
(by  the  new  account),  I,  John  Dee,  Edward  Kelly,  and  our  two 
wives,  covenanted  with  God,  and  subscribed  the  same,  for  indis¬ 
soluble  and  inviolable  unities,  charity,  and  friendship  keeping, 
between  us  four,  and  all  things  between  us  to  be  common,  as 
God  by  sundry  means  willed  us  to  do.” 

During  the  remainder  of  this  year,  having  obtained  money  for 


KELLY'S  DEATH. 


153 


their  necessities,  they  were  occupied  in  alchemical  labors,  which 
Kelly  appears  to  have  pursued  with  much  zeal  during  their  lono 
residence  at  Trebone,  where  they  had  several  quarrels,  and 
where,  as  far  we  can  gather  from  some  notices  in  the  journal  ed¬ 
ited  by  Mr.  Halliwell,  the  new  arrangement  had  given  rise  to  jeal¬ 
ousies  between  the  two  ladies.  In  1589,  Dee  proceeded  to  Bre¬ 
men,  and  his  eyes  now  appear  to  have  been  turned  toward  Eng¬ 
land.  His  character  had  been  branded  in  Germany,  and  he  had 
heard  during  his  absence,  not  only  that  the  queen  was  displeased 
at  his  depaiture,  but  that  he  was  threatened  on  his  return  with 
prosecution  on  the  charge  of  being  a  conjurer.  We  have  seen 
him  wandering  about  the  centre  of  Europe,  sometimes  travelling 
with  the  pomp  of  a  prince,  and  at  others  penniless,  reckoning  in 
vain  on  the  protection  of  the  great,  and  deceived  and  deluded^  by 
those  about  him.  Disappointed,  mortified,  and  dispirited,  deserted 
even  by  his  own  servants  and  companions,  at  length,  in  the  No¬ 
vember  of  1589,  he  resolved  to  return  to  his  own  country,  and 
he  landed  at  Gravesend  on  the  2d  of  December,  after  an  absence 
of  six  years.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  Dee  was  again  settled 
at  Mortlake,  pursuing  his  old  studies. 

Kelly,  who  had  been  knighted  in  Germany,  remained  behind, 
having,  as  it  appears,  impressed  the  emperor  Rodolph,  with  the 
belief  that  he  had  proceeded  so  far  in  alchemical  knowledge  as 
to  be  able  to  make  gold.  The  emperor  kept  him  about  his  court, 
most  of  the  time  under  restraint,  and  sometimes  actually  in  pris¬ 
on.  At  length,  in  the  year  1593,  endeavoring  to  make  his  es¬ 
cape  by  night,  Kelly  fell  from  the  wall  of  his  house  in  Prague, 
and  received  injuries  of  which  he  died. 

Dr.  Dee  was  received  by  Elizabeth  with  kindness,  but  he  had 
lost  the  respect  with  which  he  was  formerly  regarded.  He  was 
gradually  neglected,  and  left  exposed  to  the  ill-nature  of  his  ene¬ 
mies.  In  1594,  he  was  obliged  to  write  a  tract,  calling  attention 
to  his  writings  and  his  discoveries,  and  protested  against  the  opin¬ 
ion  then  generally  entertained  that  he  was  a  conjurer.  The 
queen  at  length  took  compassion  on  him,  and  after  many  troubles 
he  was  appointed  and  instituted  warden  of  the  college  at  Man¬ 
chester.  After  the  loss  of  Kelly,  Dee  obtained  other  “  skryers,” 
and  continued  his  “  actions,”  with  the  spirits  to  the  time  of  his 
death  ;  though  their  revelations  had  now  lost  all  their  imagina¬ 
tive  character,  and  consisted  chiefly  in  answer  to  questions  about 
thefts,  hidden  treasures,  and  such  commonplace  matters.  Un¬ 
der  James,  he  still  received  protection  from  the  court,  although 
his  reputation  as  a  conjurer  and  magician  increased.  On  the  5th 


154 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


of  June,  1604,  we  find  him  presenting  a  petition  to  the  king  at 
Greenwich,  imploring  his  aid  against  the  injurious  imputation  of 
being  “  a  conjurer,  or  caller,  or  invocator  of  devils,”  and  assu¬ 
ring  his  majesty  that  none  “  of  all  the  great  number  of  the  various 
strange  and  frivolous  fables  or  histories  reported  and  told  of  him 
(as  to  have  been  of  his  doing),  were  true.”  This  petition  is  said 
to  have  been  one  of  the  causes  of  an  act  then  passed  against  per¬ 
sonal  slander,  which  had  an  especial  reference  to  the  case  of  Dr. 
Dee.  But  even  this  did  not  mend  his  reputation,  though  it  pro¬ 
duced  from  the  aged  philosopher  the  following  doggerel  lines, 
which  show  that  he  was  still  less  a  poet  than  a  conjurer  :  — 

“  TO  THE  HONORABLE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMONS  IN  THE 
PRESENT  PARLIAMENT. 

“  The  honor  due  unto  you  all, 

And  reverence,  to  you  each  one 
I  do  first  yeeld  most  speciall ; 

Grant  me  this  time,  to  heare  my  mone. 

“  Now  (if  you  will)  full  well  you  may 
Fowle  sclaundrous  tongues  for  ever  tame ; 

And  helpe  the  trueth  to  beare  some  sway, 

In  just  defence  of  a  good  name  ; 

“  Halfe  hundred  yeeres,  which  hath  had  wrong, 

By  false  light  tongues  and  divelish  hate  ; 

O  helpe  tryde  trueth  to  become  strong, 

So  God  of  trueth  will  blesse  your  state. 

“In  sundry  sorts  this  sclaunder  great 
(Of  conjurer)  I  have  sore  blarnde  ; 

But  wilful],  rash,  and  spitefull  heat 
Doth  nothing  cease  to  be  enflamde. 

“  Your  helpe,  therefore,  by  wisdom’s  lore, 

And  by  your  powre,  so  great  and  sure, 

I  humbly  crave,  that  ever  more 
This  hellish  wound  I  shall  endure. 

“  And  so  your  act,  with  honor  great, 

All  ages  will  hereafter  prayse  ; 

And  trueth,  that  sitts  in  heavenly  seat, 

W  ill,  in  like  case,  your  comforts  rayse. 

“  June  8,  1004.’“* 


In  the  subscription  to  this  singular  document,  Dr.  Dee  describes 
himself  as  “  mathematician  to  his  most  royal  majesty.”  He  died 
at  Mortlake,  in  1608,  it  is  said  in  great  poverty;  but  he  left  be¬ 
hind  him  many  victims  to  the  same  delusions,  though  few  so 

These  verses,  and  Dee’s  petition,  were  printed  in  the  shape  of  hand-bills,  copies 
of  which  are  preserved  in  the  British  museum. 


WILLIAM  LILLY. 


155 


honest  as  himself.  Of  these,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  was 
Simon  Forman,  who  has  a  melancholy  celebrity  as  connected 
with  the  crimes  of  the  reign  of  James  I.,  and  who  was  succeeded 
by  the  still  more  remarkable  characters,  William  Lilly  and  Elias 
Ashmole.  The  first,  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  age 
of  the  English  magicians. 

The  autobiography  of  William  Lilly  is  a  singular  picture  of 
the  credulity  of  Englishmen  at  this  period.  In  his  younger  days 
he  was  acquainted  with  Forman,  of  whom  he  has  preserved  sev¬ 
eral  anecdotes,  and  he  assures  us  that  he  had  seen  one  of  his 
magical  books,  in  which  was  written  with  his  own  hand,  “  This 
I  made  the  devil  write  with  his  own  hands  in  Lambeth  Fields,  in 
1596,  in  June  or  July,  as  I  now  remember.”  His  own  instructor 
in  astrology,  Evans,  was  less  fortunate  in  an  adventure  with  the 
evil  one  in  the  same  neighborhood,  which  seems  to  have  been 
celebrated  as  a  scene  of  such  transactions.  “  Some  time  before 
I  became  acquainted  with  him,”  says  Lilly,  “he  then  living  in 
the  Minories,  was  desired  by  the  Lord  Bothwell  and  Sir  Ivenelm 
Digby,  to  show  them  a  spirit.  He  promised  so  to  do  ;  the  time 
came,  and  they  were  all  in  the  body  of  the  circle,  when  lo,  upon 
a  sudden,  after  some  time  of  invocation,  Evans  was  taken  from 
out  the  room,  and  carried  into  the  field  near  Battersea  Causeway, 
close  to  the  Thames.  Next,  morning,  a  countryman  going  by  to 
his  labor,  and  espying  a  man  in  black  clothes,  came  unto  him 
and  awaked  him,  and  asked  him  how  he  came  there  ?  Evans  by 
this  understood  his  condition,  inquired  where  he  was,  how  far 
from  London,  and  in  what  parish  he  was  ;  which,  when  he  un¬ 
derstood,  he  told  the  laborer  he  had  been  late  at  Battersea  the 
night  before,  and  by  chance  was  left  there  by  his  friends.  Sir 
Kenelm  Digby  and  the  Lord  Bothwell  went  home  without  any 
harm,  and  came  next  day  to  hear  what  was  become  of  him  ;  just 
as  they,  in  the  afternoon,  came  into  the  house,  a  messenger  came 
from  Evans  to  his  wife,  to  come  and  join  him  at  Battersea.  I 
inquired  upon  what  account  the  spirit  carried  him  away;  who 
said  he  had  not,  at  the  time  of  invocation,  made  any  suffumiga- 
tion,  at  which  the  spirits  were  vexed.” 

One  night  Lilly  went  a  treasure-hunting.  It  was  in  1634,  the 
year  of  his  second  marriage.  “  Davy  Ramsey,  his  majesty’s 
clock-maker,  had  been  informed  that  there  was  a  great  quantity 
of  treasure  buried  in  the  cloister  of  Westminster  Abbev  ;  he  ac- 
quaints  Dean  Williams  therewith,  who  was  also  then  bishop  of 
Lincoln  ;  the  dean  gave  him  liberty  to  search  after  it,  with  this 
proviso,  that  if  any  was  discovered,  his  church  should  have  a 


156 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


share  of  it.  Davy  Ramsey  finds  out  one  John  Scott,  who  pre¬ 
tended  the  use  of  the  Mosaical  rods,  to  assist  him  herein  ;  I  was 
desired  to  join  with  him,  unto  which  I  consented.  One  winter’s 
night,  Davy  Ramsey,  with  several  gentlemen,  myself  and  Scott, 
entered  the  cloisters.  We  played  the  hazel-rod  round  about  the 
cloisters  ;  upon  the  west  side  of  the  cloisters  the  rods  turned  one 
over  another,  an  argument  that  the  treasure  was  there.  The 
laborers  digged  at  least  six  foot  deep,  and  then  we  met  with  a 
coffin  ;  but  in  regard  it  was  not  heavy,  we  did  not  open,  which 
we  afterward  much  repented.  From  the  cloisters  we  went  into 
the  abbey-church,  where,  upon  a  sudden  (there  being  no  wind 
when  we  began),  so  fierce,  so  high,  so  blustering  and  loud  a 
wind  did  roar,  that  we  rrerily  believed  the  west  end  of  the  church 
would  have  fallen  upon  us  ;  our  rods  would  not  move  at  all  ;  the 
candles  and  torches,  all  but  one,  were  extinguished,  or  burned 
very  dimly.  John  Scott,  my  partner,  was  amazed,  looked  pale, 
knew  not  what  to  think  or  do,  until  I  gave  directions,  and  com¬ 
menced  to  dismiss  the  demons  ;  which,  when  done,  all  was  quiet 
again,  and  each  man  returned  unto  his  lodging  late,  about  twelve 
o’clock  at  night.  I  could  never  since  be  induced  to  join  with 
any  in  such  like  actions.”  Lilly  adds  in  a  note,  “  Davy  Ramsey 
brought  a  half  quartern  sack  to  put  the  treasure  in.” 

Another  of  Lilly’s  magicians  was  William  Hodges,  who  was 
also  an  intimate  friend  of  John  Scott.  44  Scott  having  some  oc¬ 
casions  into  Staffordshire,  addressed  himself  for  a  month  or  six 
weeks  to  Hodges,  assisted  him  to  dress  his  patients,  let  blood, 
&c.  Being  to  return  to  J^ondon,  he  desired  Hodges  to  show 
him  the  person  and  feature  of  the  woman  he  should  marry. 
Hodges  carries  him  into  a  field  not  far  from  his  house,  pulls  out 
his  crystal,  bids  Scott  set  his  foot  to  his,  and,  after  a  while, 
wishes  him  to  inspect  the  crystal,  and  observe  what  he  saw 
there.  4  1  see,’  saitli  Scott,  4  a  ruddy-complexioned  wench  in  a 
red  waistcoat,  drawing  a  can  of  beer.’ — 4  She  must  be  your  wife,’ 
said  Hodges.  4  You  are  mistaken,  sir,’ said  Scott;  4  I  am,  so 
soon  as  I  come  to  T.ondon,  to  marry  a  tall  gentlewoman  in  the 
Old  Bailey.’ — 4  You  must  marry  the  red  waistcoat,’  said  Hodges. 
Scott  leaves  the  country,  comes  up  to  London,  finds  his  gentle¬ 
woman  married  :  two  years  after  going  into  Dover,  in  his  return, 
he  refreshed  himself  at  an  inn  in  Canterbury,  and  as  he  came 
into  the  hall,  or  first  room  thereof,  he  mistook  the  room,  and 
went  into  the  buttery,  where  he  espied  a  maid,  described  by 
Hodges  as  before  said,  drawing  a  can  of  beer,  &c.  He  then 
more  narrowly  viewing  her  person  and  habit,  found  her  in  all 


SARAH  SKELHORN. 


157 


parts  to  be  the  same  Hodges  had  described  ;  after  which  he  be¬ 
came  a  suitor  unto  her,  and  was  married  unto  her;  which  wo¬ 
man  I  have  often  seen.  This  Scott  related  unto  me  several 
times,  being  a  very  honest  person,  and  made  great  conscience 
ol  what  he  spoke.  Another  story  of  him  is  as  followeth,  which 
I  had  related  irom  a  person  which  well  knew  the  truth  of  it  A 
neighbor  gentleman  of  Hodge’s  lost  his  horse ;  who  having 
°f-  ges  advice  lor  recovery  ol  him,  did  again  obtain  him.  Some 
yeais  alter,  m  a  frolic,  he  thought  to  abuse  him,  acquainting  a 
neighbor  therewith,  viz.,  that  he  had  formerly  lost  a  horse,  went 
to  Hodges,  recovered  him  again,  but  saith  it  was  by  chance  ;  ‘  I 
might,  have  had  him  without  going  unto  him  :  come,  let’s  go  I 
w  1  :  now  Put  a  trick  upon  him ;  I  will  have  some  boy  or  other 
at  the  town’s-end  with  my  horse,  and  then  go  to  Hodges  and 
inquire  lor  him.’  He  did  so,  gave  his  horse  to  a  youth,  with 
orders  to  walk  him  till  he  returned.  Away  he  goes  with  his 
mend,  salutes  Mr.  Hodges,  thanks  him  for  his  former  courtesy 
and  now  desires  the  like,  having  lost  a  horse  very  lately! 
Hodges  after  some  time  of  pausing,  said,  ‘  Sir,  your  horse  'is 
lost  and  never  to  be  recovered.’  ‘  I  thought  what  skill  you  had  ’ 
replies  the  gallant,  ‘  my  horse  is  walking  in  a  lane  at  the  town’s 
end.  With  that  Hodges  swore  (as  he  was  too  much  given  unto 
that  vice),  ‘  A  our  horse  is  gone,  and  you  will  never  have  him 
again.’  The  gentleman  parted  in  great  derision  of  Hedges,  and 
went  where  he  left  his  horse  ;  when  he  came  there,  he  found 

the  boy  fast  asleep  upon  the  ground,  the  horse  gone,  the  boy’s 

arm  in  the  bridle.  He  returns  again  to  Hodges,  desiriim  his 

aid,  being  sorry  for  his  former  abuse.  Old  Will  swore  like  a 

devil  This  business  ended  not  so;  for  the  malicious  man 
brought  hedges  into  the  star-chamber,  bound  him  over  to  the  as¬ 
sizes,  put  Hodges  to  great  expenses  :  but,  by  means  of  the  Lord 
Dudley,  ii  I  remember  aright,  or  some  other  person  thereabouts 
he  overcame  the  gentleman,  and  was  acquitted.” 

One  ot  Lilly’s  acquaintance  was  a  female  “  skryer  ;”  which  is 
singular  enough,  since  Dr.  Dee’s  spirits  told  him,  on  one  occa¬ 
sion,  that  females  were  not  admitted  to  these  mysteries.  “  I 
was  very  familiar,”  he  says,  “  with  one  Sarah  Skelhorn,  who 
had  been  speculatrix  unto  one  Arthur  Gauntlet  about  Gray’s  Inn 
Lane,  a  very  lewd  fellow,  professing  physick.  This  Sarah  had 
a  perfect  sight,  and  indeed  the  best  eyes  for  that  purpose  I  ever 
}  et  .did  see.  Gauntlet’s  books,  after  he  was  dead,  were  sold, 
after  I  had  perused  them,  to  my  scholar  Humphreys  ;  there  were 
rare  notions  in  them.  This  Sarah  lived  a  long  time,  even  until 

14 


153 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 

her  death,  with  one  Mrs.  Stockman  in  the  Isle  of  Purbeck,  and 
died  about  sixteen  years  since.  Her  mistress  one  time  being 
desirous  to  accompany  her  mother,  the  Lady  Beconsfield,  unto 
London,  who  lived  twelve  miles  from  her  habitation,  caused 
Sarah  to  inspect  her  crystal,  to  see  if  she,  viz.,  her  mother,  was 
gone,  yea  or  not :  the  angels  appeared,  and  shewed  her  mother 
opening  a  trunk,  and  taking  out  a  red  waistcoat,  whereby  she 
perceived  she  was  not  gone.  Next  day  she  went  to  her  mother’s, 
and  there,  as  she  entered  the  chamber,  she  was  opening  a  trunk, 
and  had  a  red  waistcoat  in  her  hand.  Sarah  told  me  oft,  the  an¬ 
gels  would  for  some  years  follow  her,  and  appear  in  every  room 
in  the  house,  until  she  was  weary  of  them.  This  Sarah  Skel- 
horn  her  call  unto  the  crystal  began,  ‘  Oh  ye  good  angels,  only  and 
only,’  &c.  Ellen  Evans,  daughter  of  my  tutor  Evans,  her  call 
unto  the  crystal  was  this  :  ‘  O  tu  Micol,  O  tu  Micol,  regina  pig- 
meorum ,  vent,'  &c.  Since  I  have  related  of  the  queen  of  the 
fairies,  I  shall  acquaint  you,  that  it  is  not  for  every  one,  or  every 
person,  that  these  angelical  creatures  will  appear  unto,  though 
they  may  say  over  the  call,  over  and  over,  or  indeed  is  it  given 
to  very  many  persons  to  endure  their  glorious  aspects  ;  even  very 
many  have  failed  just  at  that  present  when  they  are  ready  to 
manifest  themselves  ;  even  persons  otherwise  of  undaunted  spir¬ 
its  and  firm  resolution  are  herewith  astonished,  and  tremble,  as 
it  happened  not  many  years  since  with  us.  A  very  sober  dis¬ 
creet  person,  of  virtuous  life  and  conversation,  was  beyond 
measure  desirous  to  see  something  in  this  nature.  The  queen 
of  fairies  was  invocated ;  a  gentle  murmuring  wind  came  first; 
after  that,  among  the  hedges,  a  smart  whirlwind;  by-and-by  a 
strong  blast  of  wind  blew  upon  the  face  of  the  friend, — and  the 
queen  appearing  in  a  most  illustrious  glory,  ‘  No  more,  I  beseech 
you  !’  quoth  the  friend. — ‘  My  heart  fails  ;  I  am  not  able  to  en¬ 
dure  longer.’  Nor  was  he  ;  his  black  curling  hair  rose  up,  and 
I  believe  a  bullrush  would  have  beat  him  to  the  ground  ;  he  was 
soundly  laughed  at,  &c.  Sir  Robert  Holborn,  knight,  brought 
one  unto  me,  Gladwell  of  Suffolk,  who  had  formerly  had  sight 
and  conference  with  Uriel  and  Raphael,  but  lost  them  both  by 
carelessness;  so  that  neither  of  them  both  would  but  very  rarely 
appear,  and  then  presently  be  gone,  resolving  nothing.  He 
would  have  given  me  two  hundred  pounds  to  have  assisted  him 
for  their  recovery,  but  I  am  no  such  man.  Those  glorious 
creatures,  if  well  commanded,  and  well  observed,  do  teach  the 
master  anything  he  desires  ;  Amant  secreta,  fugiunt  aperta.  The 
fairies  love  the  southern  side  of  hills,  mountains,  and  groves. 


DEE’S  BOOK  PUBLISHED. 


159 


Neatness  and  cleanliness  in  apparel,  a  strict  diet,  and  upright 
life,  fervent  prayers  unto  Gdd,  conduce  much  to  the  assistance 
of  those  who  are  curious  these  ways.” 

The  delusion  of  this  branch  of  superstition,  which  more  es¬ 
pecially  affected  the  minds  of  the  learned,  neither  held  its  sway 
so  long  nor  prevailed  so  generally  as  the  belief  in  witchcraft.  It 
seemed  like  a  visitation  of  Providence  to  show  that  the  boasted 
intellect  of  mail  was  but  frailty,  and  that  even  the  wisest  were 
sometimes  liable  to  stumble.  We  must  not  forget  that  in  1559 
the  learned  scholar  Meric  Casauban,  who  was  a  believer  in 
many  of  these  wonders,  thought  the  ravings  of  Dee  and  Kelly 
worthy  of  publication,  and  that  a  numerous  impression  of  that 
strange  book  was  quickly  bought  up.  The  contemporary  pos¬ 
sessor  of  a  copy  now  in  the  British  Museum,  who  had  studied  it 
and  loaded  it  with  manuscript  notes,  has  left  the  following  note 
among  other  memoranda  at  the  commencement :  “  I  remember 
well  when  this  book  was  first  published,  that  the  then  persons 
who  held  the  government  had  a  solemn  consult  upon  the  sup¬ 
pressing  it,  as  looking  upon  it  as  published  by  the  church  of  Eng¬ 
land  men  in  reproach  of  them  who  then  pretended  so  much  to 
inspiration  :  and  Goodwyn,  Owen,  and  Nye,  &c.,  were  great 
sticklers  against,  it,  but  it  was  so  quickly  published  and  spread, 
and  so  eagerly  bought  up  as  being  a  great  and  curious  novelty, 
that  it  was  beyond  theyr  power  to  suppresse  it.” 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  WITCHES  OF  WARBOYS. 

In  the  low  grounds  of  the  county  of  Huntingdon,  on  the  road 
between  Huntingdon  and  Ramsey,  and  about  four  miles  from  the 
latter  town,  stands  the  village  of  Warboys.  It  is  a  considerable 
village,  consisting  of  detached  houses  built  partly  round  the  vil¬ 
lage  green,  and  partly  running  in  a  line  from  the  green  to  the 
church.  One  of  the  best  houses  in  the  place,  which  was  then 
called  a  town,  was  occupied  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  by  Robert  Throgmorton,  Esq.,  a.  gentleman  of 
respectability,  who  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Crom¬ 
wells  of  Hinchinbrook  and  Ramsey — Sir  Henry  Cromwell, 
grandfather  by  his  first  wife  of  the  protector  Oliver,  was  at  this 


160 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


time  lord  of  the  manor, — and  with  the  other  gentry  of  the  neigh¬ 
borhood.  The  family  of  Robert  Throgmorton  consisted  of  him¬ 
self  and  his  wife,  five  daughters,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Joan,  was 
fifteen  years  of  age,  the  others  being  named  severally  Jane, 
Elizabeth,  Mary,  and  Grace,  and  a  rather  numerous  family  of 
servants. 

It  was  about  the  10th  of  November,  1589,  that  Jane  Throg¬ 
morton,  then  a  child  under  ten  years  of  age,  was  suddenly  at¬ 
tacked  with  strange  convulsive  fits,  with  which  she  was  seized 
several  times  in  the  day,  and  which  continued  daily  and  with 
very  little  intermission.  Among  the  villagers  was  a  laboring 
family  of  the  name  of  Samwell,  or  Samuel  (as  it  is  spelled  in 
the  printed  record  of  those  transactions),  consisting  of  a  man  and 
his  wife,  and  their  grown-up  daughter  Agnes,  whose  cottage 
stood  next  to  that  of  Robert  Throgmorton,  and  who  were  in  the 
habit  of  visiting  the  house  to  seek  employment  or  the  charitable 
hospitality  which  the  poor  usually  found  in  the  kitchens  or  halls 
of  their  betters.  One  day,  soon  after  the  illness  of  Jane  Throg¬ 
morton,  Mother  Samwell,  as  the  old  woman  was  popularly  called, 
came  into  the  house  and  seated  herself  according  to  custom  in 
the  chimney  corner,  by  the  side  of  a  woman  who  was  holding  in 
her  arms  the  child,  which  was  just  recovering  from  one  of  its 
fits,  and  it  no  sooner  saw  her  than  it  began  to  cry  out,  pointing  to 
Mother  Samuel,  “  Did  you  ever  see  one  more  like  a  witch  than  she 
is  ?  Take  off  her  black  thrumbed  cap,  for  I  can  not  abide  to  look 
at  her?”  Little  attention  was  paid  to  these  expressions  at  the 
time,  except  that  the  mother  of  the  child  rebuked  it  for  its  cross¬ 
ness  ;  and  a  day  or  two  after,  as  they  found  no  abatement  of  the 
child’s  malady,  they  sent  to  Cambridge  to  consult  Dr.  Barrow,  a 
celebrated  physician  there,  but  neither  he  nor  another  medical 
man,  named  Butler,  could  discover  any  disease  in  the  child. 

Things  went  on  in  this  manner  for  about  a  month,  when  two 
other  daughters,  respectively  of  the  age  of  about  twelve  and  thir¬ 
teen,  were  attacked  with  similar  fits,- and  they  also  cried  out  on 
Mother  Samwell,  “  Take  her  away!  look  where  she  standeth 
there  before  us  in  a  black  thrumbed  cap  !”• — this  was  her  usual 
head-dress,  though  it  appears  that  she  did  not  wear  it  on  the  pres¬ 
ent  occasion — “  It  is  she  that  hath  bewitched  us,  and  she  will 
kill  us  if  you  don’t  take  her  away!”  The  parents  now  for  the 
first  time  began  to  suspect  that  their  children  were  bewitched,  a 
suspicion  which  it  appears  had  already  been  harbored  by  the 
doctors,  though  they  had  concealed  it ;  and  it  was  increased  when, 
a  month  later,  the  youngest  daughter,  who  was  about  nine  years 


THE  WITCHES  OF  WARBOYS. 


161 


of  age,  Avas  seized  with  the  same  fits,  and  cried  also  upon  Mother 
Samvvell.  About  the  same  time,  the  eldest  daughter,  Joan  Throg¬ 
morton,  was  attacked  in  the  same  manner,  and  like  the  others, 
cried  after  Mother  Samwell. 

Joan  1  hrogmorton’s  fits  were  much  more  violent  than  those  of 
the  younger  children,  and  while  suffering  from  them  her  mind 
seemed  to  wander,  she  said  strange  things,  and  appeared  to  hold 
converse  Avith  some  person  or  thing  which  was  not  visible. 
Among  other  things,  she  declared  that  the  spirit  told  her  that 
twelve  persons  would  be  beAvitched  in  the  house,  all  through  the 
agency  of  Mother  Samwell,  and  she  named  the  other  seven,  who 
Avere  all  Mrs.  Throgmorton’s  servants.  Accordingly,  the  ser¬ 
vants  were  soon  after  attacked  in  the  same  manner,  and  called 
likewise  on  Mother  Samwell  as  their  persecutor,  saying  :  “  Take 
her  away,  mistress  !  for  God’s  sake,  take  her  away,  and  burn 
her  !  for  she  will  kill  us  all  if  you  let  her  alone  !”  The  servants 
soon  left  their  places,  and  no  sooner  had  they  done  this  than  they 
Avere  perfectly  well,  and  remained  so,  Avhile  those  who  came  in¬ 
to  their  places  Avere  immediately  exposed  to  the  same  attacks. 

It  Avas  observable  of  them  all,  that  when  they  Avere  out  of  their 
fits,  they  Avere  totally  unconscious  of  everything  they  had  said. 

On  St.  Valentine’s  eve,  the  thirteenth  of  February,  1590,  Rob¬ 
ert  Throgmorton  was  visited  by  his  brother-in-law,  Gilbert  Pick¬ 
ering,  Esq.,  of  Titchmarchgrove,  ifi  Northamptonshire,  who  found 
the  children  to  all  appearance  in  perfect  health.  He  had,  Iioav- 
ever,  heard  ot  their  condition,  and  learning  on  his  arrival  that 
some  of  the  friends  of  the  Tlirogmortons  Avere  gone  to  fetch 
Mother  Samwell  to  the  house,  and  finding  that  they  had  been 
long  with  her,  he  “  concluded  that  she  would  not  come,  though 
she  had  promised  that  she  Avould  come  and  see  them  whenever 
their  parents  should  send  for  her ;  and  that  she  would  venture  up 
to  her  chin  in  water,  and  lose  some  of  her  best  blood,  to  do  them 
a  service.  But  now  her  mind,  it  seemed,  Avas  altered,  because, 
as  she  said,  all  the  children  cried  out  of  her,  and  said  that  she 
had  bewitched  them,  and  she  also  feared  that  the  common  prac¬ 
tice  ot  scratching  would  be  used  upon  her,  Avhich  indeed,  was 
intended.  But  both  her  parents  and  Mr.  Pickeriug  had  taken 
advice  of  good  divines  of  the  unlawfulness  of  it.  °  Wherefore 
Mr.  Pickering  went  to  Mother  Samwell’s  house,  both  to  see,  and 
to  persuade  her  that,  if  she  was  any  cause  of  the  children's  trou¬ 
ble,  to  amend  it.  When  he  came  to  the  house,  he  found  there  Mr. 
Whittle,  Mrs.  Audley,  and  others,  endeavoring  to  persuade  her, 
but  she  refused  it ;  whereupon  Mr.  Pickering  told  her  that  he  had 


162 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


authority  to  bring  her,  and  if  she  would  not  go  willingly,  he  would 
compel  her,  which  he  accordingly  did,  along  with  her  daughter 
Agnes,  and  one  Cicely  Burder,  who  were  all  suspected  to  be  witch¬ 
es,  or  in  confederacy  with  Mother  Samwell.  As  they  were  going 
to  Mr.  Throgmorton’s  house,  Mr.  Whittle  and  Mrs.  Audley,  and 
others  going  on  before,  Mother  Samwell,  Agnes  Samwell,  and 
Cicely  Burder,  in  the  middle,  and  Mr.  Pickering  behind,  Mr.  Pick¬ 
ering  perceived  that  Mother  Samwell  would  have  talked  with  her 
daughter  Agnes,  if  he  had  not  followed  so  close  that  they  could 
have  no  opportunity  ;  and  when  they  came  to  Mr.  Throgmorton’s 
door,  Mother  Samwell  made  a  courtesy  to  Mr.  Pickering,  offering 
him  to  go  in  before  her,  that  she  might  have  an  opportunity  to  con¬ 
fer  with  her  daughter  in  the  entry,  but  he  refused  ;  also  she  thrust 
her  head  as  near  as  she  could  to  her  daughter’s  head,  and  said 
these  words  :  ‘  I  charge  thee,  do  not  confess  anything.’  Mr. 
Pickering,  being  behind  them,  and  perceiving  it,  thrust  his  head 
as  near  as  he  could  betwixt  theirs,  whilst  the  words  were  speak¬ 
ing,  and  hearing  them  presently,  replied  to  old  Mother  Samwell, 
‘  Dost  thou  charge  thy  daughter  not  to  confess  V  To  which  she 
answered,  ‘  I  said  not  so,  but  charged  her  to  hasten  home  to  get 
her  father  his  dinner.’  Whilst  these  words  were  speaking,  Mr. 
Whittle,  Mrs.  Audley,  and  the  rest,  went  into  the  house,  and 
three  of  the  children  stood  in  the  hall  by  the  fire,  perfectly  well ; 
but  no  sooner  had  Mother  Samwell  entered  the  hall,  but  these 
three  children  fell  down  at  one  moment  on  the  ground,  strangely 
tormented,  so  that  if  they  had  been  let  alone,  they  would  have 
leaped  and  sprung  about  like  a  fish  newly  taken  out  of  the  water, 
their  bellies  lifting  up,  and  their  head  and  heels  still  remaining 
on  the  ground.”  When  Mother  Samwell  was  brought  to  the  chil¬ 
dren,  they  were  violent  in  their  attempts  to  scratch  her.  which 
was  regarded  as  a  sure  sign  of  her  being  a  witch. 

The  next  day,  Mr.  Pickering  took  Elizabeth  Throgmorton 
home  with  him  to  Titchmarch  Grove,  where  she  remained  till 
the  eighth  of  September  following,  always  troubled  with  her  dis¬ 
order,  which  attacked  her  in  a  variety  of  ways.  Sometimes  the 
reading  of  anything  spiritual,  or  even  saying  grace  at  table,  threw 
her  into  a  fit  immediately ;  sometimes  she  would  be  in  a  state  of 
insensibility  except  to  one  thing  on  which  she  was  occupied ; 
sometimes  a  particular  game  alone  kept  her  tranquil;  at  other 
times  she  was  for  a  long  period  in  violent  hysterics,  and  then  she 
would  cry  out  against  Mother  Samwell.  On  the  2d  of  March, 
after  her  arrival  at  Titchmarch  Grove,  “all  her  fits  were  merry, 
full  of  exceeding  laughter,  and  so  hearty  and  excessive,  that  if 


THE  WITCHES  OF  WARBOYS. 


163 


she  had  been  awake,  she  would  have  been  ashamed  of  being  so 
full  of  trifling  toys,  and  some  merry  jests  of  her  own  making, 
which  would  occasion  herself,  as  well  as  the  standers-by,  to  laugh 
at  them.  In  this  fit  she  chose  one  of  her  uncles  to  go  to  cards 
with  her  ;  and  desiring  to  see  the  end  of  it,  they  played  together. 
Soon  after,  there  was  a  book  brought  and  laid  before  her,  upon 
which  she  threw  herself  backward ;  but  that  being  taken  away, 
she  presently  recovered  and  played  again  ;  which  was  often  tried, 
and  found  true.  As  she  thus  played  at  cards,  her  eyes  were 
almost  shut,  so  that  she  saw  the  cards,  and  nothing  else  ;  knew 
her  uncle,  and  nobody  else  ;  she  heard  and  answered  him,  and 
no  other  person  ;  she  perceived  when  he  played  foul  or  stole  from 
her  either  counters  or  cards,  but  another  might  steal  them  out  of 
her  hands  without  her  seeing  or  feeling  of  them.  Sometimes 
she  would  chide  another  whom  she  did  see  and  hear  ;  sometimes 
a  little  child,  but  never  above  one  in  a  fit.  The  fifth  of  March 
she  fell  into  a  fit  in  the  morning,  and  longed  to  go  home  to  her 
father’s.  The  sixth,  one  of  her  father’s  men  came  over  to  Titch- 
march  Grove,  whom  she  had  often  called  in  her  fit  to  carry  her 
to  Warboys  to  her  father’s,  saying,  if  she  were  but  half  way,  she 
knew  that  she  should  be  well.  To  try  this,  they  carried  her 
toward  Warboys  on  horseback;  and  being  scarce  gone  a  bow¬ 
shot,  by  a  pond  side,  she  awaked,  wondering  where  she  was,  not 
knowing  anything,  but  no  sooner  the  horse’s  head  was  turned 
back,  but  she  fell  into  her  fit  again  ;  and  for  three  days  after,  and 
no  longer,  as  often  as  she  was  carried  to  the  pond,  she  awaked, 
and  was  well  ;  but  as  soon  as  she  turned  back  again,  her  fit  re¬ 
turned.  The  eighth  day  of  March  she  had  a  new  antic  trick  ; 
for  she  would  go  well  enough  three  steps,  but  the  third  she  down¬ 
right  halted,  giving  a  beck  with  her  head  as  low  as  her  knees  ; 
and  as  she  was  sitting  by  the  fire,  she  would  suddenly  start  up, 
up,  saying  she  would  go  to  Warboys  ;  but  she  was  stopped  at  the 
door,  when  going  out,  with  a  nod  she  hit  her  forehead  against 
the  latch,  which  raised  a  lump  as  big  as  a  walnut ;  and  being 
carried  to  the  pond,  and  there  awaking,  she  asked  how  she  came 
to  be  hurt.  There  she  continued  all  day  well,  playing  with  other 
children  at  bowls,  or  some  other  sport,  for  the  foolisher  sport 
she  made  use  of,  the  less  she  was  tormented  with  the  spirit ;  but 
as  soon  as  any  motion  was  made  of  coming  into  the  house,  the 
fit  presently  took  her,  so  that  for  twelve  days  she  was  never  out 
of  her  fit  within  doors,  eating  and  drinking  in  it,  but  neither  see¬ 
ing,  hearing,  nor  understanding,  and  without  memory  of  speak¬ 
ing.” 


164 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


About  the  middle  of  March,  1590,  the  Cromwell  family,  resi¬ 
ding  at  this  time  at  Ramsey,  Lady  Cromwell  came  with  her 
daughter-in-law,  Mrs.  Cromwell  (wife  of  Sir  Henry’s  son,  Oli¬ 
ver),  on  a  visit  to  the  Throgmortons.  She  was  much  affected  at 
the  sufferings  of  the  children,  and  sent  for  Mother  Samwell, 
whom  she  charged  with  being  the  cause  of  them,  using  threat¬ 
ening  words  toward  her.  Mother  Samwell  denied  all,  declaring 
that  the  Throgmortons  did  her  wrong,  and  that  they  blamed  her 
without  cause  ;  to  which  Lady  Cromwell  replied  that  neither 
Mr.  Throgmorton  nor  his  wife  accused  her,  but  the  children 
themselves  in  their  fits,  “or  rather  the  spirit  within  them.”  A 
divine  named  Dr.  Hall  was  present,  and  he  and  the  lady  wished 
to  examine  the  accused  more  closely,  but  she  refused.  “  When 
the  lady  found  that  neither  she  nor  anybody  else  could  prevail, 
and  that  she  wanted  to  be  gone,  she  suddenly  pulled  off' her  ker- 
cher,  and  with  a  pair  of  scissors  cut  off  a  lock  of  her  hair,  and 
gave  it  privately  to  Mrs.  Throgmorton  with  her  hair-lace,  desi¬ 
ring  her  to  burn  them.”  This  was  an  approved  antidote  against 
witchcraft.  “  Mother  Samwell,  finding  herself  so  served,  spoke 
thus  to  the  lady,  ‘  Madam,  why  do  you  use  me  thus  ?  I  never  did 
you  any  harm  as  yet.’  These  words  were  afterward  remember¬ 
ed,  though  not  taken  notice  of  at  that  time.” 

Lady  Cromwell  returned  to  Ramsey  the  same  day,  and  “  that 
night  my  Lady  Cromwell  was  suddenly  troubled  in  a  dream  about 
Mother  Samwell ;  and  as  she  imagined  was  mightily  disturbed 
in  her  sleep  by  a  cat  which  Mother  Samwell  had  sent  her,  which 
offered  to  pluck  off  the  skin  and  flesh  of  her  bones  and  arms. 
The  struggle  betwixt  the  cat  and  the  lady  was  so  great  in  her 
bed  that  night,  and  she  made  so  terrible  a  noise,  that  she  waked 
her  bed-fellow,  Mrs.  Cromwell  [both  their  husbands  were  from 
home],  who,  perceiving  the  lady  thus  disquieted,  awaked  her, 
whom  the  lady  thanked  for  so  doing,  and  told  her  how  much  she 
had  been  troubled  with  Mother  Samwell  and  her  cat,  with  many 
other  circumstances,  which  made  her  so  uneasy,  that  she  could 
not  rest  all  that  night  for  fear  of  the  same.”  Next  day  Lady 
Cromwell  was  seized  with  an  illness  from  which  she  never  re¬ 
covered. 

Various  other  attempts  were  made  to  persuade  Mother  Sam¬ 
well  to  acknowledge  her  fault  and  relieve  the  children  from  their 
sufferings,  but  for  months  no  attempt  was  made  to  press  the  mat¬ 
ter  against  her  in  a  judicial  manner,  although  the  fits  continued 
unabated.  In  1592,  the  spirits  began  to  show  themselves  to  the 
children  in  their  fits,  and  sometimes  when  they  were  not  in  then 


THE  WITCHES  OF  WAKBOYS. 


165 


fits,  and  to  converse  with  them  in  a  familiar  manner,  always  ac¬ 
cusing  Mother  Samwell,  and  prognosticating  that  she  would  at 
last,  suffer  the  reward  of  her  crimes.  They  began  now  only  to 
be  quiet  when  the  presumed  witch  was  near  them,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  introduce  her  into  the  house  as  their  nurse 
which  was  done  much  against  the  inclination  of  her  husband' 
old  Samwell. 

The  suspicions  of  witchcraft  were  now  strengthened  by  the 
occurrences  of  every  day  ;  Mother  Samwell  herself  was  once 
attacked  with  fits,  and  she  said  the  house  was  haunted  with  evil 
spirits,  and  she  would  leave  it ;  the  spirits  Themselves  became 
hourly  more  familiar ;  and  new  efforts  were  made  to  persuade 
the  old  woman  to  confess  and  amend  what  she  had  done.  Tor¬ 
mented  with  these  importunities,  she  one  day  let  herself  be  per¬ 
suaded  to  pronounce  an  exorcism  against  the  spirits,  and  the 
children  were  immediately  relieved  from  their  influence.  “  Mr. 
Throgmorton’s  face  was  then  toward  the  children,  and  his  back 
to  the  old  woman,  and  seeing  them  start  up  at  once,  he  said, 
‘Thanks  be  to  God!’  In  the  meantime  the  old  woman,  fell 
down  on  her  knees  behind  him,  and  said,  ‘  Good  master,  forgive 
me.’  He,  turning  about,  and  seeing  her  down,  said,  ‘  Why, 
Mother  Samwell,  what  is  the  matter?’  —  ‘O,  sir,’ said  she,  ‘  I 
have  been  the  cause  of  all  this  trouble  to  your  children.’  ‘  Have 
you,  Mother  Samwell  V  said  he  ;  ‘  and  why  ?  What  cause  did  I 
ever  give  you  to  use  me  and  my  children  thus  V — ‘  None  at  all,’ 
said  she.  ‘  Then,’  says  he,  ‘  you  have  done  me  the  more  wrong!’ 

‘  Good  master,’  said  she,  ‘  forgive  me.’ — ‘  God  forgive  you,’  said 
he,  ‘  and  I  do  ;  but  tell  me  how  you  came  to  be  such  a  woman.’ 

‘  Master,’  said  she,  ‘  I  have  forsaken  my  Maker,  and  given  my 
soul  to  the  devil.’  Then  the  grandmother  and  mother  of  the 
children,  who  were  in  the  hall,  hearing  them  so  loud  in  the  par¬ 
lor,  came  in,  whom  Mother  Samwell  asked  pardon  of  likewise. 
Mrs.  Throgmorton,  the  mother,  presently  forgave  her  with  all 
her  heart,  but  could  not  well  tell  what  was  the  matter.  Then 
Mother  Samwell  asked  the  three  children  that  were  there,  and 
the  rest,  forgiveness,  and  kissed  them,  the  children  easily  for¬ 
giving  her.  Mr.  Throgmorton  and  his  wife  perceiving  the  old 
woman  so  penitent  and  cast  down,  she  weeping  and  lamenting 
all  the  time,  did  all  they  could  to  comfort  her,  and  told  her  they 
would  freely  forgive  her  from  their  hearts,  provided  their  chil¬ 
dren  were  no  more  troubled.  She  said,  she  trusted  in  God  they 
would  never  be  troubled  again,  yet  could  not  be  comforted.  Mrs. 
Throgmorton  then  sent  for  Dr.  Dorrington,  minister  of  the  town, 


166 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  told  him  all  the  circumstances  ;  and  all  of  them  endeavored 
to  make  her  easy,  but  nevertheless  she  wept  all  that  night.  The 
next  day,  being  Christmas  even,  and  the  sabbath,  Dr.  Dorrington 
chose  his  text  of  repentance  out  of  the  Psalms,  and  communi¬ 
cating  her  confession  to  the  assembly,  directed  his  discourse 
chiefly  to  that  purpose,  to  comfort  a  penitent  heart,  that  it  might 
affect  her.  All  the  sermon-time  Mother  Samvvell  wept  and  la¬ 
mented,  and  was  frequently  so  loud  in  her  passions,  that  she 
drew  the  eyes  of  the  congregation  upon  her.” 

The  next  day  Mother  Samwell  contradicted  all  she  had  said, 
declaring  that  she  was  drawn  into  the  confession  by  her  surprise 
at  finding  that  her  exorcism  had  relieved  the  children,  and  that 
she  hardly  knew  what  she  was  saying.  It  was  believed  that 
this  denial  was  the  result  of  a  compact  with  her  husband  and 
daughter,  and  all  other  means  proving  ineffectual  to  bring  her 
back  to  her  confession,  they  carried  her  at  the  end  of  December 
(1592)  before  the  bishop  of  Lincoln.  The  old  woman  was  now 
thoroughly  frightened,  and  she  made  a  new  confession,  that  she 
was  really  a  witch,  that  she  had  several  spirits  whose  names  she 
repeated,  one  of  which  appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  dun  chicken, 
and  often  sucked  her  chin,  and  that  they  were  given  to  her  by 
an  “  upright  man,”  of  whose  name  and  dwelling-place  she  was 
equally  ignorant.  On  this  confession,  both  mother  and  daughter 
were  committed  to  Huntingdon  jail,  but  the  latter  was  bailed  in 
accordance  with  Mr.  Throgmorton’s  wish  to  take  her  to  his 
house,  in  order  to  see  if  her  presence  would  have  the  same  effect 
on  his  children  as  that  of  her  mother. 

Dr.  Dorrington  and  a  Cambridge  “  scholar”  were  also  in  the 
house,  and  the  evidence  of  the  former  as  to  what  happened  in 
the  house  when  Agnes  Samwell  was  brought  there  was  of  great 
weight  against  her  on  her  trial.  On  the  10th  of  February,  1593, 
according  to  Dr.  Dorrington’s  statement,  “  In  the  afternoon,  she 
(Jane  Throgmorton)  lay  groaning  in  her  fit  by  the  fireside,  and 
suddenly  was  taken  with  a  bleeding  at  the  nose,  which  surprised 
her  very  much,  fearing  ill  news  after  it.  When  she  had  bled 
much  in  her  handkerchief,  she  said  it  was  a  good  deed  to  throw 
it  in  the  fire  and  burn  the  witch.  After  she  had  talked  thus,  it 
appeared  that  the  spirit  came  to  her ;  she  smiling  and  looking 
about  her,  saying,  ‘  What  is  this,  in  God’s  name,  that  comes 
tumbling  to  me?  it  tumbles  like  a  football,  it  looks  like  a  pup¬ 
pet-player,  and  appears  much  like  its  dame’s  old  thrumb-cap. 
What  is  your  name,  I  pray  you  V  said  she.  The  thing  answered 
his  name  was  Blew.  To  which  she  answered,  ‘Mr.  Blew,  you 


DIALOGUES  WITH  THE  SPIRITS.  v  167 

are  welcome  ;  I  never  saw  you  before  ;  I  thought  my  nose  bled 
not  for  nothing;  what  news  have  you  brought?  What!’ says 
she,  ‘  dost  thou  say  I  shall  be  worse  handled  than  ever  I  was  ? 
Ha  !  what  dost  thou  say  ?  that  I  shall  now  have  my  fits,  when  I 
shall  both  hear  and  see  and  know  everybody  ?  that’s  a  new  trick 
indeed.  I  think  never  any  of  my  sisters  were  so  used,  but  I 
care  not  for  you  ;  do  your  worst,  and  when  you  have  done,  you 
will  make  an  end.’  Alter  this  she  was  silent  awhile,  but  listen¬ 
ing  to  something  that  was  said,  presently  called  for  Agnes  Sam- 
well,  asking  where  she  was,  and  saying  that  she  had  too  much 
liberty,  and  that  she  must  be  more  strictly  looked  to  ;  ‘  for  late¬ 
ly  she  was  in  the  kitchen-chamber  talking  with  her  spirits,  and 
entreated  Mr.  Blew  not  to  let  me  have  any  such  extreme  fits, 
when  I  spoke,  heard,  and  knew  everybody.  But  he  says  he 
will  torment  me  more,  and  not  rest  till  Dame  Agnes  Samwell  is 
brought  to  her  end;  so  that  now,’  says  she  to  Agnes  Samwell, 
who  was  just  come  to  her,  ‘  it  will  be  no  better  with  us  till  you 
and  your  mother  are  both  hanged.’  The  maid  confessed  she 
was  in  the  kitchen-chamber  and  alone,  but  denied  that  she  talked 
with  spirits,  or  knew  any  such.  Mrs.  Jane  bid  her  not  deny  it, 
for  the  spirits  would  not  lie.  Soon  after  she  came  out  of  this 
fit,  and  complained  of  great  pain  in  her  legs,  and  being  asked 
where  she  had  been,  and  what  she  had  said,  she  answered,  that 
she  had  been  asleep,  and  said  nothing  she  knew  of,  and  won¬ 
dered  how  her  handkerchief  came  to  be  so  bloody,  saying  some¬ 
body  else  had  bloodied  it,  and  not  she,  for  she  was  nofused  to 
bleed.” 

The  other  children  were  much  affected  this  day  and  the  next, 
and  all  seemed  to  conspire  against  Agnes  Samwell ;  but  it  was 
Jane  'I  hrogmorton  who  appears  to  have  been  most  familiar  with 
the  spirits.  On  the  11th  of  February,  she  “  was  sick  and  full  of 
pain  all  day  ;  when  night  came,  after  supper,  she  fell  into  her 
fit  as  the  night  before,  being  able  to  see,  hear,  and  understand 
everything  that  was  asked  of  her ;  and  having  continued  in  this 
fit  some  time,  she  fell  into  her  senseless  fit,  and  being  silent 
awhile,  and  her  mouth  shut,  she  fetched  a  great  groan,  and  said, 

‘  Whence  came  you,  Mr.  Smack,  and  what  news  do  you  bring?’ 
The  spirit  answered,  that  he  came  from  fighting.  Said  she, 

‘  With  whom  ?’  The  spirit  answered,  ‘  with  Pluck.’ — ‘  Where 
did  you  fight,  I  pray  you  ?’  said  she.  The  spirit  answered,  in 
old  dame’s  back-house,  which  stood  in  Mother  Samwell’s  yard ; 

*  and  they  fought  with  great  cowlstaves  last  night.’ — ‘  And  who 
got  the  mastery  I  pray  you  ?’  said  she.  He  answered,  he  broke 


168 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Pluck’s  head.  Says  she,  ‘  I  wish  he  had  broke  your  neck  also.’ 
Saith  the  spirit,  ‘  Is  that  all  the  thanks  I  shall  have  for  my  la¬ 
bor  ?’ — ‘  What,’  says  she,  ‘  do  you  look  for  thanks  at  my  hand? 
I  wish  you  were  all  hanged  up  against  one  another,  for  you  are 
all  naught  ;  but  God  will  defend  me  from  you  so  he  departed 
and  bid  her  farewell.  Being  asked  when  he  would  come  again, 
he  said,  ‘  On  Wednesday  night.’  He  was  no  sooner  gone,  but 
presently  came  Pluck  to  her,  to  whom  she  said,  ‘  From  whence 
come  you,  Pluck,  with  your  head  hanging  down  so  ?’  He  an¬ 
swered  just  as  Smack  had  told  her.  Then  said  the  spirit  to  her, 
‘  When  saw  you  Smack  ?’  She  answered,  that  she  knew  no 
such  fellow.  ‘  Yes,’  says  he,  ‘  but  you  do,  but  you  will  not  be 
known  of  him.’ — ‘  It  seems,’  says  she,  ‘  that  you  have  met  with 
your  match.’  And  after  such  like  expressions,  he  went  away, 
and  presently  she  came  out  of  her  fit,  and  complained  of  pain  in 
her  legs.  The  next  day  she  was  very  sick  all  day,  it  being 
Monday,  and  in  the  afternoon  fell  into  a  very  strange  fit,  having 
lost  all  her  senses  for  about  half  an  hour ;  Agnes  Samwell,  see¬ 
ing  the  extremity  of  which,  seemed  to  pray  earnestly  for  her 
along  with  the  rest;  and  being  asked  whether  it  proceeded  from 
wantonness,  as  she  used  to  say,  she  could  not  deny  but  it  must 
proceed  from  some  supernatural  power.  When  the  fit  was  over, 
she  was  well,  except  the  pain  in  her  legs.  After  supper,  as 
soon  as  her  parents  were  risen,  she  fell  into  the  same  fit  again, 
as  before,  and  then  became  senseless,  and  in  a  little  time  open¬ 
ing  her  mouth,  she  said,  ‘Will  this  hold  for  ever?  I  hope  it 
will  be  better  one  day.  From  whence  came  you  now,  Catch?’ 
said  she,  ‘  limping.  I  hope  you  have,  met  with  your  match.’ 
Catch  answered  that  Smack  and  he  had  been  fighting,  and  that 
Smack  had  broken  his  leg.  Said  she,  ‘  That  Smack  is  a  shrewd 
fellow,  methinks  I  would  1  could  see  him.  Pluck  came  last 
night,’  said  she,  ‘  with  his  head  broke,  and  now  you  have  broken 
your  leg;  I  hope,’  said  she,  ‘  he  will  break  both  your  necks  be¬ 
fore  he  hath  done  with  you.’  Catch  answered,  that  he  would 
be  even  with  him  before  he  had  done.  Then  said  she,  ‘  Put 
forth  your  other  leg,  and  let  me  see  if  I  can  break  that,’  having  a 
stick  in  her  hand.  The  spirit  told  her  that  she  could  not  hit 
him.  ‘  Can  I  not  hit  you  ?’  said  she  ;  ‘  let  me  try.’  Then  the 
spirit  put  out  his  leg,  and  she  lifted  up  the  stick  easily,  and  sud¬ 
denly  struck  the  ground.  ‘You  have  not  hurt  me,’ said  the 
spirit.  ‘  Have  I  not  hurt  you  ?’  said  she.  ‘  No,  but  1  would  if 
I  could,  and  then  I  would  make  some  of  you  come  short  home.’ 
So  she  seemed  divers  times  to  strike  at  the  spirit,  but  he  leaped 


DIALOGUES  WITH  THE  SPIRITS.  169 

over  the  stick  as  he  said,  like  a  Jack-an-apes.  So  after  many 
such  tricks  the  spirit  went  away,  and  she  came  out  of  her  fit 
continuing  all  that  night,  and  the  next  day,  very  sick,  and  full  of 
pain  in  her  legs  At  night,  when  supper  was  ended,  she  fell 
in  o  her  sensible  fit  again,  which  continued  as  usual,  and  then 
she  grew  senseless,  and  after  a  little  time,  as  usual,  fetching  a 
great  groan  she  said,  ‘  Ha,  sirrah !  are  you  come  with  your  arm 
ln  a  sling  Mr.  Blew  ?  Who  hath  met  with  you,  I  pray  ?’  The 
spirit  said,  ‘You  know  well  enough.’  She  answered,  ‘  Do  I 
know  well  enough  ?  how  should  I  know  ?’ — ‘  Why,’  said  the 
spirit,  ‘  Smack  and  I  were  fighting,  and  he  hath  broken  my  arm.’ 

iclsne,  I  hat  Smack  is  a  stout  fellow  indeed;  1  hope  he  will 
break  all  your  necks,  because  you  punish  me  without  a  cause. 

;  s  ,  slle>  ‘  that  I  could  be  once  acquainted  with  him  ’ _ 

W  e  will  be  even  with  him,’  said  Blew,  ‘  one  day.’—'  Why  ’ 
said  she,  ‘  what  will  ye  do  ?’  The  spirit  said  they  would  all  fall 
upon  him  and  beat  him.  Saith  she,  ‘  Perhaps  he  cares  not  for 
you  all,  for  he  has  broken  Pluck’s  head,  Catch’s  leg,  and  your 
arm  ;  now  you  have  something  to  do,  you  may  go  and  heal  your 

c,  Y®s’,  sanh  the  sPlnt-  ‘  when  my  arm  is  well,  we  will 
beat  Smack.  So  they  parted,  and  she  came  out  of  her  fit  and 
complained  of  most  parts  of  her  body  ;  so  that  she  seemed  easi¬ 
er  while  the  spirit  was  talking  with  her,  than  when  she  came 
out  of  her  fit.  1  he  next  day,  which  was  Wednesday,  she  was 
very  ,  I  and  when  night  came,  she  first  fell  into  her  sensible 
fit,  and  then  into  her  senseless  one,  and  after  fetching  a  great 
sigh,  she  said,  ‘  Whence  came  you,  Mr.  Smack?’  He  said  he 
was  come  according  to  his  promise  on  Sunday  night.  Said  she 
it  is  very  likely  you  will  keep  your  promise,  but  I  had  rather 
you  would  keep  away  till  you  are  sent  for  ;  but  what  news  have 
you  brought  .  Said  he,  ‘  I  told  you  I  had  been  fighting  last 
Sunday  night,  but  I  have  had  many  battles  since.’ — ‘  So  it  seems  ’ 
said  she,  ‘  for  here  was  both  Pluck,  Catch,  and  Blew,  and  all 
came  lame  to  me.’— ‘  Yes,’  said  he,  ‘  I  have  met  with  them  all.’ 

But  1  wonder,  said  she,  ‘you  could  beat  them,  for  they  are 
very  great,  and  you  are  but  a  little  one.’  Said  he,  ‘  I  am  good 
enough  for  two  of  the  best  of  them  together.’—'  But,’  said  she  ‘  T 
can  tell  you  news.’—'  What’s  that  ?’  said  he.  ‘  They  will  all’  of 
them  fall  upon  you  at  once,  and  beat  you.’  He  said  he  cared 
not  or  that  he  would  beat  two  of  the  best  of  them.  ‘  And  who 
shall  beat  the  other  two?’  said  she,  ‘  for  there  is  one  who  hath 

eLT,  1 T  SP  ,  '  calI,ed  Hardname.  hi*  standing  upon 

eight  letters,  and  every  letter  standeth  for  a  word,  but  what  his 

15 


170 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


name  is  otherwise,  we  know  not.’  The  spirit  answered  that  his 
cousin  Smack  would  help  him  to  beat  the  other  two.  There 
are  also  two  other  Smacks,  as  appears  from  the  old  woman’s 
confession.  ‘  What  ?’  said  she,  ‘  will  your  cousin  Smack  help 
you?  is  there  kindred  among  devils?  1  never  heard  of  that  be¬ 
fore,  God  keep  me  from  that  kindred  !’  ” 

This  strange  scene  was  also  a  part  of  Dr.  Dorrington’s  evi¬ 
dence.  Things  continued  thus  till  the  month  of  April,  when  it 
was  determined  again  to  put  in  practice  the  remedy  of  scratching. 

“  On  Monday  following,  which  was  the  day  appointed  for 
scratching,  Mrs.  Joan  fell  into  her  fit  a  little  before  supper,  and 
continued  so  all  supper-time,  being  not  able  to  stand  on  her  legs. 
As  soon  as  they  began  to  give  thanks  after  supper,  she  started 
up  upon  her  feet  and  came  to  the  table  side,  and  stood  with  her 
sisters  that  were  saying  of  grace  ;  and  as  soon  as  grace  was 
ended,  she  fell  upon  the  maid,  Nan  Samwell,  and  took  her  head 
under  her  arms,  and  first  scratched  the  right  side  of  her  cheeks ; 
and  when  she  had  done  that,  ‘  Now,’  said  she,  ‘  I  must  scratch 
the  left  side  for  my  Aunt  Pickering,’  and  scratched  that  also  till 
blood  came  on  both  sides  very  plentifully.  The  maid  stood  still, 
and  never  moved  to  go  away  from  her,  yet  cried  pitifully,  desi¬ 
ring  the  Lord  to  have  mercy  on  her.  When  she  had  done  scratch¬ 
ing,  Mrs.  Joan  sat  herself  upon  a  stool,  and  seemed  to  be  out  of 
breath,  taking  her  breath  very  short,  yet  the  maid  never  struggled 
with  her,  and  was  able  to  hold  never  a  joint  of  her,  but  trembled 
like  a  leaf,  and  called  for  a  pair  of  scissors  to  pare  her  nails  ;  but 
when  she  had  them,  she  was  not  able  to  hold  them  in  her  hands, 
but  desired  some  one  to  do  it  for  her,  which  Dr.  Dorrington’s 
wife  did.  Mrs.  Joan  saved  her  nails  as  they  were  pared,  and 
when  they  had  done  threw  them  into  the  fire,  and  called  for  some 
water  to  wash  her  hands,  and  then  threw  the  water  into  the  fire. 
Then  she  fell  upon  her  knees,  and  desired  the  maid  to  kneel  by 
her,  and  prayed  with  her,  saying  the  I^ord’s  prayer  and  the 
creed  ;  but  Mrs.  Joan  seemed  as  if  she  did  not  hear  the  maid, 
for  she  would  say  amiss  sometimes,  and  then  the  company  would 
help  her  out ;  but  Mrs.  Joan  did  not  stay  for  her,  so  that  she  had 
ended  before  the  maid  had  half  done  hers.  After  this,  Dr.  Dor- 
rington  took  a  prayer-book  and  read  what  prayers  he  thought  fit ; 
and  when  he  had  done,  Mrs.  Joan  began  to  exhort  the  maid,  and 
as  she  was  speaking  she  fell  a  weeping  extremely,  so  that  she 
could  not  well  express  her  words,  saying  that  she  would  not  have 
scratched  her,  but  she  was  forced  to  it  by  the  spirit.  As  she  was 
thus  complaining,  her  sister  Elizabeth  was  suddenly  seized  with 


THE  TRIAL  OF  THE  WITCHES. 


171 


a  fit,  and  turning  hastily  upon  the  maid,  catched  her  by  one  of 
her  hands,  and  fain  would  have  scratched  her,  saying,  the  spirit 
said  she  must  scratch  her  too  ;  but  the  company  desired  the  maid 
to  keep  her  hand  from  her,  so  they  strove  a  great  while  till  the 
child  was  out  of  breath  ;  then  said  the  child,  ‘  Will  nobody  help 
me  V  twice  or  thrice  over.  Then  said  Mrs.  Joan,  being  still  in 
her  fit,  ‘  Shall  I  help  you,  Sister  Elizabeth?’ — ‘  Ay,  for  God’s 
sake,  sister,’  said  she.  So  Mrs.  Joan  came  and  took  one  of  the 
maid’s  hands,  and  held  it  to  her  sister  Elizabeth,  and  she  scratched 
it  till  blood  came,  at  which  she  was  very  joyful.  Then  she  pared 
her  nails,  and  washed  her  hands,  and  threw  the  paring  and  the 
water  both  into  the  fire.  After  all  this,  before  the  company  de¬ 
parted,  the  maid  helped  Mrs.  Joan  out  of  her  fit  three  several 
times,  one  after  the  other,  by  three  several  charges  ;  and  like¬ 
wise  brought  Mrs.  Elizabeth  out  of  her  fit  by  saying,  as  she  hath 
bewitched  Airs.  Elizabeth  Throgmorton  since  her  mother  con¬ 
fessed.” 

The  sessions  at  Huntingdon  began  on  the  fourth  of  April,  and 
then  the  three  Samwells  were  put  upon  their  trial,  and  all  the  fore¬ 
going  evidence  and  much  more  was  repeated.  The  indictments 
against  them,  specified  the  offences  against  the  children  and  ser¬ 
vants  of  the  Throgmortons,  and  the  “  bewitching  unto  death”  of 
the  lady  Cromwell.  The  grand  jury  found  a  verdict  immediate¬ 
ly,  and  then  they  were  put  upon  their  trial  in  court,  and  after 
much  evidence  had  been  gone  through,  “  the  judge,  justices,  and 
juiy,  said  the  case  was  apparent,  and  their  consciences  were 
well  satisfied  that  the  said  witches  were  guilty,  and  deserved 
death.”  Afterward  their  confessions  were  put  in,  and  “  when 
these  were  read,  it  pleased  God  to  raise  up  more  witnesses  against 
those  wicked  persons,  as  Robert  Poulton,  vicar  of  Brampton, 
who  openly  said,  that  one  of  his  parishioners,  John  Langley,  at 
that  time  being  sick  in  his  bed,  told  him,  that  one  day,  being  at 
Huntingdon,  he  did,  in  Mother  Samwell’s  hearing,  forbid  Mr. 
Knowles,  of  Brampton,  to  give  her  any  meat,  for  she  was  an  old 
witch  ;  and  upon  that,  as  he  went  from  Huntingdon  to  Brampton 
in  the  afternoon,  having  a  good  horse  under  him,  he  presently 
died  in  the  field,  and  within  two  days  after  he  escaped  death 
twice  very  dangerously,  by  God’s  providence  ;  but  though  the 
devil  had  not  power  over  his  body  at  that  time,  yet  soon  after  he 
lost  many  good  and  sound  cattle,  to  men’s  judgment  worth  twenty 
marks,  and  that  he  himself,  not  long  after,  was  very  seriously 
handled  in  his  body  ;  and  the  same  night  of  the  day  of  assize  the 
said  John  Langley  died.  Mr.  Robert  Throgmorton,  of  Bramp- 


172 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


ton,  also  said,  that  at  Huntingdon  and  other  places,  he  having 
given  very  rough  language  to  the  said  Mother  Samwell,  on  Fri¬ 
day,  the  tenth  day  following,  one  of  his  beasts,  of  two  years  old, 
died,  and  another  the  Sunday  following.  The  next  Friday  after, 
a  hog  died,  and  the  Sunday  following,  a  sow  which  had  sucking 
pigs  died  also;  upon  which  he  was  advised,  the  next  thing  that 
died,  to  make  a  hole  in  the  ground,  and  burn  it.  On  Friday,  the 
fourth  week  following,  he  had  a  fair  cow,  worth  four  marks,  died 
likewise,  and  his  servants  made  a  hole  accordingly,  and  threw 
faggots  and  sticks  on  her,  and  burnt  her,  and  after,  all  his  cattle 
did  well.  As  to  the  last  matter,  Mother  Samwell  being  examined 
the  night  before  her  execution,  she  confessed  the  bewitching  of 
the  said  cattle.  Then  the  jailer  of  Huntingdon  gave  his  evi¬ 
dence,  that  a  man  of  his,  finding  Mother  Samwell  was  unruly 
whilst  she  was  a  prisoner,  chained  her  to  a  bed-post,  and  not 
long  after  he  fell  sick,  and  was  handled  much  as  the  children 
were,  heaving  tip  and  down  his  body,  shaking  his  arms,  legs,  and 
head,  having  more  strength  in  his  fits  than  any  two  men  had,  and 
crying  out  of  Mother  Samwell,  saying  she  bewitched  him,  and 
continuing  thus  five  or  six  days,  died.  And  the  jailer  said,  that 
not  long  after  one  of  his  sons  fell  sick,  and  was  much  as  his  ser¬ 
vant  was,  whereupon  the  jailer  brought  Mother  Samwell  to  his 
bedside,  and  held  her  till  his  son  had  scratched  her,  and  upon 
that  he  soon  mended.” 

When  judgment  of  death  was  pronounced  against  her,  the  old 
woman,  a  miserable  wretch  of  sixty  years  of  age,  scarcely  know¬ 
ing  what  she  was  doing  or  saying,  pleaded  in  arrest  of  judgment 
that  she  was  with  child,  a  plea  which  only  produced  a  laugh  of 
derision.  She  confessed  to  whatever  was  put  in  her  mouth. 
The  husband  and  daughter  asserted  their  innocence  to  the  last. 
They  were  all  hanged,  and  the  historian  of  this  strange  event 
assures  us  that  from  that  moment  Robert  Throgmorton’s  children 
were  permanently  freed  from  all  their  sufferings.  In  memory 
of  the  conviction  and  punishment  of  the  witches  of  Warboys, 
Sir  Henry  Cromwell,  as  lord  of  the  manor,  gave  a  certain  sum 
of  money  to  the  town  to  provide  annually  the  sum  of  forty  shil¬ 
lings  to  be  paid  for  a  sermon  against  witchcraft,  to  be  preached 
by  a  member  of  Queen’s  college,  Cambridge,  in  Warboys  church, 
on  Lady  day,  every  year.  I  have  not  ascertained  if  this  sermon 
is  still  continued. 


THE  POETRY  OF  WITCHCRAFT. 


173 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

THE  POETRY  OF  WITCHCRAFT. 

The  case  described  in  the  foregoing  chapter  gives  us  a  very 
good  notion  of  the  general  form  of  witchcraft  in  England  during 
t  le  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  shows  us  how  universally  it  then  re¬ 
ceived  credit  from  persons  of  rank.  It  shows,  however,  a  slow¬ 
ness,  probably  an  unwillingness,  to  prosecute,  which  proves  that 
the  persecution  of  the  witches  was  not  as  yet  so  general  in  this 
country  as  in  others. 

In  England,  indeed,  the  crime  of  witchcraft  appears  to  have 
attracted  less  public  attention  than  in  other  countries  during  the 
mteenth  and  earlier  part  of  the  sixteenth  centuries.  During  the 
former  period,  however,  we  have  several  instances  in  which,  as 
in  Scotland,  charges  of  this  nature  were  adopted  as  means  of 
political  revenge.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  (A.  D.  1441 )  it  was 
made  one  of  the  chief  accusations  against  the  duchess  of  Glou¬ 
cester,  the  wile  ol  the  “  good  duke  Humphry,”  that  she  had  em¬ 
ployed  a  miserable  woman  known  to  fame  as  the  witch  of  Eye 
and  a  “  clerk”  named  Roger,  to  effect  the  king’s  death  by  means 
ol  sorcery.  The  witch  was  burnt  in  Smithfield ;  the  sorcerer 
was  brought  into  Ponies  (to  St.  Paul’s),  and  there  he  stood  up 
on  high  on  a  scaffold  ageyn  Poulys  cross  on  a  Sunday,  and  there 
he  was  arraied  like  as  he  schulde  never  the  ( thrive )  in  his  gar- 
nementys,  and  there  was  honged  rounde  aboute  hym  alle  his  in- 
stru mentis  whiche  were  taken  with  hym,  and  so  shewyd  amono- 
all  the  peple,”  and  he  was  eventually  hanged,  drawn,  and  qqar^ 
tered  as  a  traitor ;  the  duchess  was  committed  to  perpetual  im¬ 
prisonment..  In  Shakspere  the  sorcerers  are  made  to  raise  a 
spnit  in  a  circle,  who  answers  to  their  questions  concerning  the 
late  of  the  king  and  his  favorites.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  a 
political  party  spread  abroad  a  report  that  the  marriage  of  the 
king  with  the  lady  Elizabeth  Gray  was  the  result  of  witchcraft 
employed  by  the  lady’s  mother,  the  duchess  of  Bedford.  The 
plot  was  at  the  moment  successfully  exposed,  and  one  “Thomas 
Wake,  esquier,”  was  proved  “  to  have  caused  to  be  brought  to 
vv  arrewyk  .  .  .  an  image  of  lede  made  lyke  a  man  of 

armes,  contaynyng  the  lengthe  of  a  mannes  fynger,  and  broken 

15* 


174 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


in  the  myddes,  and  made  fast  with  a  wyre,”  asserting  that  it  was 
made  by  the  duchess  “  to  use  with  the  said  witchcraft  and  sor- 
sery  yet  the  story  appears  to  have  been  believed  by  many,  and 
at  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Richard  III.  it  was  revived 
as  one  of  the  grounds  for  condemning  the  marriage  in  question 
and  bastardizing  the  children.  In  this  last  reign  the  same  crime 
of  sorcery  formed  part  of  the  charges  brought  against  the  queen’s 
kinsmen,  as  well  as  against  the  frail  and  unfortunate  Jane  Shore, 
and  subsequently  against  Archbishop  Morton  and  other  adherents 
of  the  duke  of  Richmond.  The  great  dramatist  has  made  Rich¬ 
ard  accuse  Queen  Elizabeth  and  Jane  Shore  of  a  plot  against  his 
own  person — 

“  Look  how  I  fiiu  bewitched  ;  behold  mine  arm 
Is,  like  a  blasted  sapling,  withered  up  ; 

And  this  is  Edward’s  wife,  that  monstrous  witch, 

Consorted  with  that  harlot,  strumpet  Shore, 

That  by  their  witchcraft  thus  have  marked  me.” 

The  first  act  in  the  statute-book  against  sorcery  and  witch¬ 
craft,  was  passed  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.  A.  D.  ]  541,  whereby  this  supposed  crime  was  made  felony 
without  benefit  of  clergy.  It  had  probably  then  been  pushed 
into  more  prominent  notice  by  some  remarkable  occurrence  now 
forgotten.  Six  years  after,  in  1547,  when  the  power  was  en¬ 
tirely  in  the  hands  of  the  religious  reformers  under  Edward  VI., 
his  father’s  law  against  witchcraft  was  repealed.  Under  Eliza¬ 
beth,  in  1562,  a  new  act  was  passed  against  witchcraft,  punish¬ 
ing  the  first  conviction  only  with  exposure  in  the  pillory.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  latter  half  of  Elizabeth’s  reign,  prosecutions  for  witch¬ 
craft  seem  to  have  become  numerous  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  and  the  infection  was  spread  by  the  number  of  printed 
pamphlets  to  which  they  gave  rise,  and  of  which  many  are  still 
preserved.  Among  these  are  accounts  of  a  witch  hanged  at 
Barking  in  1575  ;  of  four  executed  at  Abingdon  in  1579  ;  of  three 
at  Chelmsford  and  two  at  Cambridge  in  the  same  year ;  of  a 
number  of  witches  tried  and  condemned  at  St.  Osythe’s,  in  1582  ; 
of  one  at  Stanmore,  and  of  another  hanged  at  Tyburn,  both  in 
1585  ;  of  three  at  Chelmsford  in  1589  ;  of  the  three  at  Warboys 
in  1593  ;  of  three  at  Barnet  and  Brainford  in  1595  ;  and  of  seve¬ 
ral  in  the  counties  of  Derby  and  Stafford  in  1597.  The  fre¬ 
quency  of  such  accusations  at  this  period,  and  the  number  of 
persons  who  were  on  such  slight  pretexts  brought  to  an  igno¬ 
minious  death,  made  witchcraft  a  subject  of  discussion,  and  the 
principles  of  moderation,  which  had  been  espoused  by  Wierus  on 
the  continent,  found  enlightened  advocates  in  this  country.  In 


NAMES  OF  FAMILIARS, 


175 


1584,  Reginald  Scott  published  his  “  Discovery  of  Witchcraft,” 
in  which  he  exposed  the  absurdity  of  the  charges  brought  against 
this  class  of  offenders,  and  the  weakness  of  the  evidence  on 
which  they  were  usually  convicted.  Scott’s  book  is  one  of  the 
most  valuable  works  we  have  on  the  superstitions  prevalent  in 
England  at  this  time,  but,  like  most  other  old  works,  it  is  com¬ 
piled,  in  a  great  degree,  from  foreign  authorities.  The  county 
of  Essex  had  been  especially  haunted  by  witches,  and  an  intelli¬ 
gent  and  noted  preacher  of  Maldon,  George  Giffard,  who  be¬ 
longed  in  some  measure  to  the  same  school  as  Scott,  published, 
in  1587,  “  A  Discourse  of  the  Subtill  Practices  of  Devilles  by 
Witches  and  Sorcerers  and,  in  1593,  the  public  received,  from 
the  same  writer,  “A  Dialogue  concerning  Witches  and  Witch¬ 
craft,”  of  which  another  edition  was  printed  in  1603.  This  lat¬ 
ter  edition  of  a  very  curious  book  has  been  reprinted  by  the 
Percy  Society. 

English  witchcraft,  at  this  time,  seems  to  have  been  entirely 
free  from  the  romantic  incidents  which  formed  so  striking  a 
characteristic  of  the  popular  creed  in  other  countries.  We  have 
no  voyages  out  to  sea  in  sieves  ;  no  witches’  sabbaths  ;  not  even 
any  direct  compact  with  the  fiend.  The  witches  are  the  mere 
victims  of  their  own  vindictive  feeling,  and  find  ready  instruments 
in  certain  imps,  of  a  very  equivocal  character,  to  wreak  their 
malice  on  man  or  beast.  These  imps  are  represented  as  appear¬ 
ing  in  the  form  of  small  animals — generally  those  which  come  un¬ 
der  the  repulsive  title  of  vermin — or  cats,  and  they  serve  merely 
in  return  for  their  food.  They  bear  undignified  names,  like  Tyf- 
fin,  Piggin,  Titty,  Jack,  Toni,  and  the  like.  Mother  Samwell, 
the  witch  of  Warboys,  confessed  that  she  had  nine  spirits  or 
imps,  given  her  by  an  old  man,  and  that  three  of  them  (cousins 
to  each  other)  were  named  each  of  them  Smack  :  the  names  of 
the  others  being  Pluck,  Blue,  Catch,  White,  Calicut,  and  Hard- 
name.  One  of  the  women  arraigned  at  Chelmsford,  in  1579, 
was  accused  by  her  own  son  (a  child  of  eight  years  of  age,  who 
was  examined  in  court  as  a  witness  against  his  mother),  of  keep¬ 
ing  three  spirits ;  one,  which  she  called  Great  Dick,  was  en¬ 
closed  in  a  wicker  bottle  ;  the  second,  named  Little  Dick,  was 
placed  in  a  leather  bottle  ;  and  the  third,  which  went  by  the 
name  of  Willet,  was  kept  in  a  woolpack.  “  And  thereupon  the 
house  was  commaunded  to  be  searched.  The  bottles  and  packe 
were  found,  but  the  spirites  were  vanished  awaie.”  One  of  the 
witches  of  St.  Osythe’s  had  been  heard  to  talk  in  her  house  when 
she  was  known  to  be  alone,  and  it  was  at  once  judged  that  she 


176 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


then  held  conversation  with  her  imps.  A  witness  in  this  trial 
deposed,  that  on  calling  one  of  the  accused,  and  finding  her  not 
at  home,  she  looked  in  through  the  chamber  window,  and  there 
“  espied  a  spirite  to  looke  out  of  a  potcharde  from  under  a  clothe, 
the  nose  thereof  beeing  browne  like  unto  a  ferret.”  These  imps 
were  represented  as  usually  making  a  voluntary  offer  of  their 
services,  although  they  sometimes  persecuted  their  victims  until 
they  made  use  of  them.  One  of  the  Chelmsford  witches  was 
going  from  the  door  of  a  man  who  had  refused  to  give  her  yeast 
for  her  bread,  when  she  was  met  by  a  dog  which  undertook  to 
revenge  her  on  the  man  who  had  driven  her  away  empty-handed. 
The  imps  were  often  transferred  from  one  person  to  another. 

One  witch,  mentioned  in  Griffith’s  “  Dialogue,”  confessed  be¬ 
fore  a  justice  that  she  had  three  spirits  :  one  like  a  cat,  which 
she  called  Lightfoot ;  another  like  a  toad  which  she  called  Lunch  ; 
and  a  third  like  a  weazel,  which  she  called  Makeshift.  She 
said  that  one  Mother  Barlie  sold  her  Lightfoot.  about  sixteen  years 
before,  in  exchange  for  an  ovencake,  and  “  told  her  the  cat  would 
do  her  good  service  ;  if  she  would,  she  might  send  her  of  her 
errand  ;  this  cat  was  with  her  but  a  while  ;  but  the  weazel  and 
toad  came  and  offered  their  services.  The  cat  would  kill  kine, 
the  weazel  would  kill  horses,  the  toad  would  plague  men  in  their 
bodies.”  Another  witch  had  a  spirit  in  the  likeness  of  a  yellow 
dun  cat,  which  first  came  to  her,  she  said,  as  she  sat  by  the  lire, 
when  she  had  fallen  out  with  a  neighbor  of  hers,  and  wished  the 
vengeance  of  God  might  fall  on  him  and  his.  “  The  cat  bade 
her  not  be  afraid,  she  would  do  her  no  harm,  she  had  served  a 
dame  five  years  in  Kent,  that  was  now  dead,  and  if  she  would, 
she  would  be  her  servant.  ‘  Amd  whereas,’  said  the  cat,  ‘  such  a 
man  hath  misused  thee,  if  thou  wilt  I  will  plague  him  in  his  cat¬ 
tle.’  She  sent  the  cat,  which  killed  three  hogs  and  one  cow.” 
Another  woman  confessed  “  that  she  had  a  spirit  which  did  abide 
in  a  hollow  tree,  where  was  a  hole,  out  of  which  he  spake  unto 
her.  And  ever  when  she  was  offended  with  any,  she  went  to 
that  tree  and  sent  him  to  kill  their  cattle.”  The  writer  above 
quoted,  tell  us  that,  “there  was  one  Mother  W.,  of  Great  T., 
which  had  a  spirit  like  a  weazel;  she  was  offended  highly  with 
one  H.  M. ;  home  she  went,  and  called  forth  her  spirit,  which 
lay  in  a  pot  of  wool  under  her  bed  ;  she  willed  him  to  go  and 
plague  the  man.  He  required  what  she  would  give  lrm,  and  he 
would  kill  II.  M.  She  said  she  would  give  him  a  cock,  which 
she  did,  and  he  went,  and  the  man  fell  sick  with  a  great  pain  in 
liis  belly,  languished,  and  died.” 


WHITE  WITCHES. 


177 


Such  is  the  general  picture  of  the  vulgar  and  unimaginative 
sorceiy-creed  ol  England  in  the  reign  of  good  Queen  Bess.  It 
was  extended  and  imprinted  still  more  deeply  on  people’s  minds 
by  a  class  of  designing  people  who  profited  by  their  credulity, 
and  set  up  to  be  what  were  called  “  white  witches.”  These  peo¬ 
ple  pretended  to  be  masters  or  mistresses  of  the  sorcerer’s  art,  and 
by  some  mysterious  means  to  know  when  people  were  bewitched, 
who  was  the  witch,  and  how  by  their  charms  to  counteract  her 
evil  influence.  Many  who  had  experienced  losses,  or  who  la¬ 
bored  under  disease,  repaired  to  such  persons  as  these,  and  they 
hesitated  not  to  charge  their  misfortunes  to  any  poor,  aged,  and 
defenceless  woman  in  their  neighborhood.  Sometimes  they 
showed  them  the  witch  in  a  magical  glass  ;  at  other  times,  they 
instructed  them  in  certain  charms  and  other  processes  which 
would  make  the  witches  come  and  show  themselves.  The  rem¬ 
edies  of  the  white  witch  were  generally  of  a  ridiculous  charac¬ 
ter,  but  the  popular  credulity  of  the  age  was  open  to  every  kind 
of  deception. 

I  he  efforts  of  Reginald  Scott  and  George  Giffard,  were  ren¬ 
dered  ineffectual  by  the  accession  of  James  of  Scotland  to  the 
English  throne,  who  passed  a  new  and  severe  law  against  witch 
craft,  in  which  it  now  became  almost  a  crime  to  disbelieve.  We 
are  told  that  King  James  carried  his  hostility  to  the  writings  of 
Scott  to  the  length  of  causing  his  “  Discovery  of  Witchcraft”  to 
be  burnt  whenever  he  had  an  opportunity. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  reign  that  witchcraft  not 
only  became  a  subject  of  deep  public  attention,  but  that  it  came 
into  especial  favor  among  the  poets.  The  vulgar  form  under 
which  it  had  shown  itself  in  the  preceding  reign  would  lead  us 
to  look  for  anything  rather  than  the  poetry  of  witchcraft ;  but  in 
the  wilder  legends  of  France  and  Scotland,  there  were  many 
traits  of  a  highly  imaginative  and  romantic  character,  which 
made  the  witches  no  unfit  instruments  of  supernatural  agency  in 
the  conceptions  of  the  poet.  Nature’s  own  bard  seems*5 to  have 
been  the  first  who  called  in  this  new  agency  to  his  aid  ;  and  he 
clothed  it  with  new  attributes  which  appear  to  show  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  ancient  popular  mythology  of  the  northern  people. 
The  three  witches  in  Macbeth  appear  as  the  weird  sisters  or  fates 
of  the  Scandinavian  mythology,  fixing  and  watching  the  fate  of 
individuals  in  the  hour  of  battle  ;  and  almost  in  the  same  breath 
they  answer  the  calls  of  their  familiar  imps,  like  the  witches  of 
Elizabeth’s  time. 


178 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


1st  Witch.  When  shall  we  three  meet  again, 

In  thunder,  lightning,  or  in  rain  ? 

2 d  Witch.  When  the  hurly-burly’s  done, 

When  tlie  batile’s  lost  and  won. 

2d  Witch.  That  will  be  ere  set  of  sun. 

1st  Witch.  Where’s  the  place  ? 

2 d  Witch.  Upon  the  heath. 

2d  Witch.  There  to  meet  with  Macbeth. 

Is?  Witch.  I  come,  Graymalkin  ! 

All.  Paddock  calls. — Anon  ! 

On  their  second  appearance,  the  three  witches  have  been  em¬ 
ployed  in  occupations  perfectly  in  agreement  with  their  popular 
character. 

Is?  Witch.  Where  hast  thou  been,  sister? 

2d  Witch.  Killing  swine. 

2d  Witch.  Sister,  where  thou  ? 

1st  Witch.  A  sailor’s  wife  had  chestnuts  in  her  lap, 

And  mounched,  and  mounched,  and  mounched. 

Give  me,  quoth  I. 

Aroint  thee,  icitch  !  the  rump-fed  ronyon  cries. 

Her  husband's  to  Aleppo  gone,  master  of  the  Tiger; 

But  in  a  sieve  I  ’ll  thither  sail, 

And  like  a  cat  without  a  tail, 

I  ’ll  do,  1  ’ll  do,  and  I  ’ll  do. 

When  they  next  come  on  the  scene,  we  find  that  they  have  a 
superior,  to  whom  Shakspere  gives  the  classic  name  of  Hecate, 
and  by  whose  permission  it  appears  that  they  exercise  their  arts. 
Hecate  meets  the  three  witches — 

Is?  Witch.  Why,  how  now,  Hecate  ?  you  look  angrily. 

Hec.  Have  I  not  reason,  beldames  as  you  are, 

Saucy  and  over-bold  ?  How  did  you  dare 
To  trade  and  traffic  with  Macbeth, 

In  riddles,  and  affairs  of  death  ; 

And  1,  the  mistress  of  your  charms, 

The  close  contriver  of  all  harms, 

W  as  never  called  to  bear  my  part, 

Or  show  the  glory  of  our  art  ? 

Even  Hecate,  in  the  conclusion,  confesses  to  having  a  familiar, 
to  whose  call  she  obeys. 

Hark,  1  am  called  ;  my  little  spirit,  see, 

Sits  in  a  foggy  cloud,  and  stays  for  me. 

Their  place  of  abode  is  a  dark  cave,  where  they  mix,  in  their 
magic  caldron,  the  horrible  and  loathsome  ingredients  of  their 
charms. 

Middleton,  Shakspere’s  contemporary,  whose  witch-poetry  he 
appears  to  have  imitated,  has  left  a  play,  entitled  “  The  Witch.” 
Here  again  the  abode  of  Hecate  is  a  cave,  and  the  boiling  cal¬ 
dron  figures  in  it,  but  the  mystic  triad  of  the  witches  is  changed 


MIDDLETON’S  WITCHES. 


179 


to  an  indefinite  number,  four  of  whom  bear  the  names  of  Stad- 
lin,  Hoppo,  Hellwain,  and  Puckle  ;  and  their  familiars  are  called 
Tetty,  Tiffin,  Suckin,  Pidgen,  Liard,  and  Robin.  It  is  evident 
from  this,  and  several  other  circumstances,  that  Middleton  had 
been  studying  Reginald  Scott,  and  the  witch  trials  of  the  prece¬ 
ding  reign.  In  Middleton,  the  witches  require  an  ointment  (like 
the  witches  of  the  continent)  to  transfer  themselves  to  a  distance. 
The  airiness  of  Shakspere’s  creations  has  totally  disappeared. 

Hec.  Here,  take  this  unbaptized  brat; 

( Giving  the  dead  body  of  a  child.) 

Boil  it  well;  preserve  the  fat; 

You  know 't  is  precious  to  transfer 
Our  ’nointed  flesh  into  the  air, 

In  moonlight  nights,  on  steeple-tops, 

Mountains,  and  pine-trees,  that  like  pricks  or  stops 
Seem  to  our  height ;  high  towers  and  roofs  of  princes 
Like  wrinkles  in  the  earth:  whole  provinces 
Appear  to  our  sight  then  even  leek  (like) 

A  russet  mole  upon  a  lady’s  cheek. 

When  hundred  leagues  in  air,  we  feast  and  sing, 

Dance,  kiss,  and  cuil,  use  everything; 

What  young  man  can  we  wish  to  pleasure  us, 

But  we  enjoy  him  in  an  incubus? 

We  can  not  but  feel  the  degradation  of  the  classic  Hecate, 
when  reduced  to  a  vulgar  witch,  and  revenging  herself  on  those 
who  had  denied  her  trifling  suits  : — 

Hec.  Is  the  heart  of  wax 

Stuck  full  of  magic  needles  ? 

Stadlin.  ’T  is  done,  Hecate. 

Hec.  And  is  the  farmer’s  picture  and  his  wife’s 
Laid  down  to  the  fire  yet  ? 

Slad.  They  ’re  a  roasting  both  too. 

Hec.  Good!  (exit  Stadlin.)  Then  their  marrows  are  a-melting  subtly, 
And  three  months’  sickness  sucks  up  life  in  ’em. 

They  denied  me  often  flour,  bacon,  and  milk, 

Goose-grease,  and  tar,  when  I  ne’er  hurt  their  churnings, 

Their  brew-locks,  nor  their  batches,  nor  forespoke 
Any  of  their  breedings.  Now,  I’  II  be  meet  with  ’em  : 

Seven  of  their  young  pigs  I’ve  bewitched  already, 

Of  the  last  litter ; 

Nine  ducklings,  thirteen  goslings,  and  a  hog, 

Fell  lame  last  Sunday  after  even-song,  too  ; 

And  mark  how  their  sheep  prosper,  or  what  sup 
Each  milch  kine  gives  to  the  pail ;  I  'll  send  three  snakes 
Shall  milk  ’em  all 

Beforehand;  the  dew-skirted  dairy-wenches 
Shall  stroke  dry  dugs  for  this,  and  go  home  cursing. 

I  ’ll  mar  their  syllabubs  and  swathy  feastings 
Under  cows'  bellies  with  the  parish  youths. 

Hecate,  in  Middleton’s  play,  has  a  son  named  Firestone,  who 
wishes  his  mother  dead  that  he  may  have  her  property  ;  and  she 


180 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


foreknows  that  her  death  -will  happen  that  day  three  years  at 
midnight.  The  next  time  we  are  introduced,  the  witches  meet 
in  a  field  by  moonlight,  prepared  to  take  their  accustomed  flight ; 
and  among  the  rest,  Hecate  ascends  with  her  familiar  imp  : — 

Hec.  Now  I  go,  now  I  fly, 

Malkin,  my  sweet  spirit,  and  I, 

O  what  a  dainty  pleasure ’t  is 

To  ride  in  the  air 

When  the  moon  shines  fair, 

And  sing  and  dance,  and  toy  and  kiss 
Over  woods,  high  rocks,  and  mountains, 

Over  seas,  our  mistress’  fountains, 

Over  steep  towers  and  turrets, 

We  fly  by  night,  ’mongst  troops  of  spirits. 

No  ring  of  bells  to  our  ears  sounds, 

No  howls  of  wolves,  no  yelps  of  hounds; 

N  o,  not  the  noise  of  water’s  breach, 

Or  cannon’s  throat,  our  height  can  reach. 

The  allusions  to  the  great  assemblies  of  the  witches  become,  it 
will  be  seen,  stronger  and  stronger ;  but  it  was  left  to  the  genius 
of  Goethe  to  bring  on  the  scene  all  the  marvels  and  all  the 
abominations  of  the  witches’  sabbath. 

In  the  Tempest,  the  spiritual  part  of  the  plot  is  more  delicate¬ 
ly  imaginative.  Prospero  is  the  magician  in  his  most  refined 
character — a  kind  of  transcendental  Dr.  Dee ;  and  Ariel  is  a 
spirit  that  has  been  brought  under  the  witches’  power — not  a  di¬ 
abolical  imp,  but  one  of  the  fairies  or  good  people,  a  class  we 
have  already  seen  figuring  in  the  witchcraft  cases  in  Scotland, 
and  which  we  shall  now  find  under  the  same  circumstances  in 
South  Britain. 

Hast  thou  forgot 

The  foul  witch  Sycorax,  who  with  age  and  envy 
W ast  grown  into  a  hoop  ?  hast  thou  forgot  her  ? 

.  This  damned  witch  Sycorax, 

For  mischiefs  manifold,  and  sorceries  terrible 
To  enter  human  hearing,  from  Argier, 

Thou  knowst,  was  banished  ;  for  one  thing  she  did, 

They  would  not  take  her  life.  .... 

This  blue-eyed  hag  was  hither  brought  with  child, 

And  here  was  left  by  the  sailors  :  thou,  my  slave, 

As  thou  reportst  thyself,  wast  then  her  servant: 

And,  for  thou  wast  a  spirit  too  delicate 
To  act  her  earthy  and  abhorred  commands. 

Refusing  her  grand  bests,  she  did  confine  thee, 

By  help  of  her  more  potent  ministers, 

And  in  her  most  unmitigable  rage, 

Into  a  cloven  pine  ;  within  which  rift 
Imprisoned,  thou  didst  painfully  remain 
A  dozen  years ;  within  which  space  she  died. 

And  left  thee  there  ;  where  thou  didst  vent  thy  groans. 

As  fast  as  mill-wheels  strike.  Then  was  this  island 
(Save  for  the  son  that  she  did  litter  there, 


BEN.  JONSON. 


181 


A  freckled  whelp,  hag-born)  not  honored  with 
A  human  shape. 

An  unknown  dramatist,  contemporary  with  Shakspere  and 
Middleton,  brought  on  the  stage  the  popular  character  of  the 
magician,  in  the  play  of  the  Merry  Devils  of  Edmonton.* 

“  Rare”  Ben.  Jonson  completes  the  trio  of  contemporary  witch¬ 
craft-poets,  and  a  glorious  trio  it  was.  Jonson  descends  entire¬ 
ly  to  the  supposed  realities  of  the  day.  The  witches  in  his 
“  Masque  of  Queens,”  performed  before  King  James,  hold  a  con¬ 
venticle  like  those  of  Lothian,  with  whose  practices  his  majesty 
was  so  thoroughly  conversant ;  and  the  poet  has  in  the  margin 
substantiated  almost  every  word  by  a  mass  of  learned  quotations 
from  Bodinus,  and  Elich,  and  Remigius,  and  Delrio,  and  a 
whole  host  of  foreign  writers  on  the  subject  of  demonology. 
Eleven  witches  appear  at  their  place  of  meeting,  and  finding 
that  the  one  chosen  for  their  president  or  “  dame”  is  not  arrived^ 
they  join  in  calling  her  up  : — 

The  weather  is  fair,  the  wind  is  good, 

Up,  dame,  on  your  horse  of  wood : 

Or  else  tuck  up  your  gray  frock, 

And  saddle  your  goat,  or  your  green  cock, 

And  make  his  bridle  a  bottom  of  thread, 

To  roll  up  how  many  miles  you  have  rid. 

Quickly  come  away; 

For  we  all  stay. 

“  Of  the  green  cock,”  says  Jonson,  “  we  have  no  other  ground 
(to  confess  ingenuously)  than  a  vulgar  fable  of  a  witch,  that  with 
a  cock  of  that  color,  and  a  bottom  of  blue  thread,  would  transport 
herself  through  the  air  ;  and  so  escaped  (at  the  time  of  her  being 
brought  to  execution)  from  the  hand  of  justice.  It  was  a  tale 
when  I  went  to  school.” 

This  is  a  solitary  tradition  of  the  Elizabethan  witches,  which 
is  worth  whole  pages  of  the  information  contained  in  the  printed 
accounts  of  their  trials.  After-  three  invocations  in  the  above 
style,  the  “  dame”  makes  her  appearance,  and  they  then  relate 
to  one  another  the  evil  deeds  in  which  they  have  been  employed. 
One  had  been  gathering  the  mandrake— a  plant  of  superstition^ 
and  a  povverlul  ingredient  in  their  charms  : — 

I  last  night  lay  all  alone 

On  the  ground,  to  bear  the  mandrake  groan  ; 

And  plucked  him  up,  though  he  grew  full  Iqw  ; 

And,  as  1  had  doue,  the  cock  did  crow. 

*  It  may  be  observed  that  the  legend  of  Peter  Fabel  of  Edmonton,  on  which 
this  play  was  founded,  was  evidently  identical  with  a  German  popular  story  which 
was  turned  into  English  verse  under  the  title  of  “  The  Smith  of  Apolda,”  and  was 
published  in  England  in  a  periodical  entitled  “  The  Original,”  and  reprinted  in  Mr 
i  horns  “  Lays  and  .uegeud3  of  Germany.’’ 

16 


182 


t 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Another  had  smothered  an  infant  in  its  cradle  : — 

Under  a  cradle  I  did  creep, 

By  day  ;  and  when  the  child  was  asleep 
At  night,  I  sucked  the  breath,  and  rose, 

And  plucked  the  nodding  nurse  by  the  nose. 

Another  had  obtained  the  fat  of  an  unbaptized  and  base-born  child, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  principal  ingredient  in  the  oint¬ 
ment  that  enabled  them  to  pass  through  the  air  to  the  place  of 
their  meeting  : — 

I  had  a  dagger,  what  did  I  with  that  ? 

Killed  an  infant  to  have  his  fat, 

A  piper  it  got  at  a  church  ale. 

Having  produced  their  ingredients,  the  witches  commenced 
their  charms  and  incantations,  the  object  of  which  appears  to  be 
to  produce  a  storm.  This  seems  to  have  been  intended  to  re¬ 
mind  the  king  of  the  tempests  which  he  believed  the  Scottish 
witches  had  raised  to  obstruct  him  on  his  return  from  Denmark 
a  few  years  before.  The  whole  concludes  with  a  dance,  full 
of  preposterous  change  and  gesticulation.” 

The  most  pleasing  composition  of  this  age,  in  which  the 
agency  of  witchcraft  is  introduced,  is  Ben.  Jonson’s  unfinished 
drama  of  the  “  Sad  Shepherd.”  The  witch  here  transforms 
herself  first  into  a  raven,  then  into  Maid  Marian,  and  in  the  se¬ 
quel  it  seems  that  she  was  to  take  the  form  of  a  hare  and  be  so 
hunted.  These  changes  she  appears  to  have  effected  by  means 
of  a  magic  girdle  : — 

But  hear  ye,  Douce,  because  ye  may  meet  me 
In  many  shapes  to-day,  where’er  you  spy 
This  browdered  belt,  with  characters,  ’tis  I. 

A  Gypsan  lady,  and  a  right  beldame, 

Wrought  it  by  moonshine  for  me,  and  starlight. 

Upon  your  grannam's  grave,  that  very  night 
We  earthed  her  in  the  shades  ;  when  our  dame  Hecate 
Made  it  her  gaing  night  over  the  kirk-yard, 

With  all  the  barkand  parish  tikes  set  at  her, 

While  I  sat  whyrland  of  my  brazen  spindle; 

At  every  twisted  thridmy  rock  let  fly 
Unto  the  sewster,  who  did  sit  me  nigh, 

Under  the  town  turnpike,  which  ran  each  spell 
She  stitched  in  the  work,  and  knit  it  well. 

The  Egyptians,  or  gypsies,  occur  elsewhere  as  agents  in 
witchcraft.  It  may  also  be  observed,  that  the  witch  spoken  of 
appears  here  much  in  the  same  character  as  in  Shakspere  and 
Middleton.  Jonson’s  description  of  the  witch’s  place  of  resort 
is  extremely  elegant. 

Within  a  gloomy  dimble  she  doth  dwell, 

Down  in  a  pit,  o’ergrown  with  brakes  and  briers, 


THE  WITCH  OF  EDMONTON. 


183 


Close  by  the  ruins  of  a  shaken  abbey, 

Torn  with  an  earthquake  down  unto  the  ground, 

’Mongst  graves  and  grots  near  an  old  charnel-house, 

Where  you  shall  find  her  sitting  in  her  fourna, 

As  fearful  and  melancholic  as  that 
She  is  about ;  with  caterpillars’  kells, 

And  knotty  cobwebs,  rounded  in  with  spells. 

Thence  she  steals  forth  to  relief  in  the  fogs, 

And  rotten  mists,  upon  the  fens  and  bogs, 

Down  to  the  drowned  lands  of  Lincolnshire  ; 

To  make  ewes  cast  their  lambs,  swine  eat  their  farrow, 

The  housewives’  tun  not  work,  nor  the  milk  churn  ! 

Writhe  children’s  wrists,  and  suck  their  breath  in  sleep, 

Get  vials  of  their  blood  !  and  where  the  sea 
Casts  up  his  slimy  ooze,  search  for  a  weed 
To  open  locks  with,  and  to  rivet  charms, 

Planted  about  her  in  the  wicked  feat 
Of  all  her  mischiefs,  which  are  manifold. 

*  #  *  TV  * 

There,  in  the  stocks  of  trees,  white  faies  do  dwell, 

And  span-long  elves  that  dance  about  a  pool, 

With  each  a  little  changeling  in  their  arms  ! 

There  airy  spirits  play  with  falling  stars, 

And  mount  the  sphere  of  fire  to  kiss  the  moon  ! 

While  she  sits  reading  by  the  glow-worm’s  light, 

Or  rotten-wood,  o’er  which  the  worm  hath  crept, 

The  baneful  schedule  of  her  nocent  charms, 

And  binding  characters  through  which  she  wounds 
Her  puppets,  the  sigillaof  her  witchcraft. 

It  became  now  a  kind  of  fashion  to  introduce  witches  upon 
the  stage,  and  many  dramas  were  produced  in  which  sorcery 
formed  a  part  of  the  plot.  Few  of  these  have  been  preserved, 
or,  at  least,  are  known  to  exist.  None  of  their  writers  attempt¬ 
ed,  like  Shakspere,  to  spiritualize  the  character ;  they  merely 
proposed,  like  their  descendants  of  the  present  age,  to  profit  by 
the  mania  of  the  day,  and,  picturing  witches  as  they  were,  or  as 
they  were  supposed  to  be,  held  them  up  to  the  public  odium. 
One  play  still  existing,  “  The  Witch  of  Edmonton,”  is  said  to  be 
the  joint  efforts  of  several  authors  (among  whom  is  enumerated, 
perhaps  falsely,  the  dramatist  Ford)  ;  it  is  founded  on  the  trial 
and  execution  of  a  witch  of  that  place,  named  Elizabeth  Sawyer, 
in  1622,  and  its  object  seems  to  have  been  to  show  that  old  wo¬ 
men  were  often  driven  to  their  presumed  compact  with  the  devil 
by  persecution.  “  Mother  Sawyer”  is  introduced  gathering 
sticks  in  a  wood,  and  soliloquizing  on  her  misery : — 

And  why  on  me  ?  wliy  should  the  envious  world 
Throw  all  their  scandalous  malice  upon  me  1 
’Cause  I  am  poor,  deform’d,  and  ignorant, 

And  like  a  bow  buckled  and  bent  together, 

By  some,  more  strong  in  mischiefs  than  myself, 

Must  I  for  that  be  made  a  common  sink 
For  all  the  filth  and  rubbish  of  men’s  tongues 
To  full  and  run  into  ?  Some  call  me  witch, 


184 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


And,  being  ignorant  of  myself,  they  go 
About  to  teaeli  me  how  to  be  one  ;  urging, 

That  my  bad  tongue  (by  their  bad  usage  made  so) 

Forespeuks  their  cattle,  doth  bewitch  their  corn, 

Themselves,  their  servants,  and  their  babes  at  nurse. 

This  they  enforce  upon  me ;  and  in  part 
Make  oue  to  credit  it. 

After  being  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  a  party  of  countrymen 
who  insult  her,  she  continues  : — 

I  am  shunned 

And  hated  like  a  sickness  ;  made  a  scorn 

To  all  degrees  and  sexes.  1  have  heard  old  beldames 

Talk  of  familiars  in  the  shape  of  mice, 

Rats,  ferrets,  weasels,  and  I  wot  not  what, 

That  have  appeared,  and  sucked,  some  say,  their  blood  ; 

But  by  what  means  they  came  acquainted  with  them, 

I  am  now  ignorant.  Would  some  power,  good  or  bad, 

Instruct  me  which  way  I  might  be  revenged 
Upon  this  churl,  I’d  go  out  of  myself. 

And  give  this  fury  leave  to  dwell  within 
This  ruined  cottage,  ready  to  fall  with  age  ; 

Abjure  all  goodness  ;  be  at  hate  with  prayer  ; 

And  study  curses,  imprecations, 

Blasphemous  speeches,  oaths,  detested  oaths, 

On  anything  that’s  ill ;  so  I  might  work 
Revenge  upon  this  miser,  this  black  cur, 

That  barks,  and  bites,  and  sucks  the  very  blood 
Of  me,  and  of  my  credit.  ’T  is  all  one, 

To  be  a  witch  as  to  be  counted  one. 

While  she  is  in  this  temper,  the  demon  appears  in  the  shape  of 
a  black  dog,  and  finds  little  difficulty  in  seducing  her  to  his  pur¬ 
poses. 

A  few  years  after  the  occurrence  which  furnished  the  plot  of 
the  piece  just  described,  the  witches  of  Lancashire  were  brought 
on  the  stage  in  a  similar  manner  in  the  joint  production  of  Hey- 
wood  and  Brome.  But  there  is  less  of  the  “  poetry”  of  witch¬ 
craft  in  this  play,  than  in  one  on  the  same  subject  composed 
above  half  a  century  later  by  Thomas  Shadwell,  and  certainly 
not  one  of  the  worst  of  the  compositions  of  this  dramatist.  Shad- 
well  professedly  collected  the  materials  for  his  witchcraft  crea¬ 
tions  out  of  the  writings  of  the  “  witch-mongers,”  as  he  calls 
them,  and  he  has  turned  into  verse  the  qualities  which  had  pre¬ 
vious  to  his  time  been  imputed  to  the  witches  of  various  coun¬ 
tries  and  times. 

The  poetry  of  witchcraft  forms  a  marked  point  of  division  be¬ 
tween  the  English  superstitions  of  the  sixteenth  century  and 
those  of  the  seventeenth.  The  learned  credulity  of  James  I., 
and  the  influence  of  Scottish  prejudices,  had  a  fatal  effect  upon 
that  and  the  following  age.  But  our  sorcery  creed  of  the  sev- 


WITCHCRAFT  IN  FRANCE. 


185 


enteenth  century  contained  so  much  adopted  from  the  recitals  of 
foreign  writers,  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  turn  from  it  awhile 
until  we  have  passed  the  channel  to  pay  our  respects  to  the 
sorcerers  of  France. 


CHAPTER  XV\ 

WITCHCRAFT  IN  FRANCE  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

In  England,  as  we  have  seen,  the  popular  creed  with  regard 
to  witchcraft  was  neither  elaborate  nor  perfect,  while  on  the  con¬ 
tinent,  it  had  been  assuming  a  form  far  more  systematic  and  com¬ 
plete  than  that  which  it  presented  at  an  earlier  period.  This 
arose  on  one  side  from  the  decrees  of  ecclesiastical  councils, 
which  tended  more  than  anything  else  to  impress  on  people’s 
minds  the  conviction  of  its  truth,  and  on  the  other  from  the 
numerous  treatises  of  learned  men  who  undertook  to  arrange  and 
discuss  the  various  statements  put  into,  rather  than  extracted 
from,  the  mouths  of  the  innumerable  victims  to  the  superstition 
oi  tne  age.  This  also  tended  not  a  little  to  reduce  to  one  mode 
the  popular  belief  of  different  countries,  and  we  shall  thus  find 
that  throughout  the  sixteenth  century  the  sorcery-creeds  of  France 
Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain,  scarcely  differ  from  each  other,  and 
we  may  fairly  take  the  first  as  a  type  of  them  all. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  trials  for  witch¬ 
craft  in  Trance  are  of  rare  occurrence,  and  there  are  no  cases 
of  great  importance  recorded  till  after  the  year  1560.  In  1561 
a  number  of  persons  were  brought  to  trial  at  Vernon,  accused  of 
having  held  their  sabbath  as  witches  in  an  old  ruined  castle,  in 
the  shape  of  cats;  and  witnesses  deposed  to  having  seen  the 
assembly,  and  to  having  suffered  from  the  attacks  of  the  pseudo- 
feline  conspirators.  But  the  court  threw  out  the  charge,  as  wor¬ 
thy  only  of  ridicule.  In  1564,  three  men  and  a  woman  were  ex¬ 
ecuted  at  Poitiers,  after  having  been  made  to  confess  to  various 
acts  of  sorcery  ;  among  other  things,  they  said  that  they  had  reo-- 
ulaily  attended  the  witches’  sabbath,  which  was  held  three  times 
a  year,  and  that  the  demon  who  presided  at  it,  ended  by  burning 
himself  to  make  powder  for  the  use  of  his  agents  in  mischief 
In  1571,  a  mere  conjurer,  who  played  tricks  upon  cards,  was 
thrown  into  prison  in  Paris,  forced  to  confess  that  he  was  an  at- 

16* 


186 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tendant  on  the  sabbath,  and  then  executed.  In  1573,  a  man  who 
was  burnt  at  Drole,  on  the  charge  of  having  changed  himself  into 
a  wolf,  and  in  that  form  devoured  several  children.  Several 
witches,  who  all  confessed  to  having  been  at  the  sabbaths,  were 
in  the  same  year  condemned  to  be  burnt  in  different  parts  of 
France.  In  1578,  another  man  was  tried  and  condemned  in 
Paris  for  changing  himself  into  a  wolf ;  and  a  man  was  con¬ 
demned  at  Orleans  for  the  same  supposed  crime  in  1583.  As 
France  was  often  infested  by  these  rapacious  animals,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  conceive  how  popular  credulity  was  led  to  connect 
their  ravages  with  the  crime  of  witchcraft.  The  belief  in  what 
were  in  England  called  war-wolves  (men-wolves),  and  in  France 
loups-garous,  was  a  very  ancient  superstition  throughout  Europe. 
It  is  asserted  by  a  serious  and  intelligent  writer  of  the  time  that, 
in  1588,  a  gentleman,  looking  out  of  the  window  of  his  chateau 
in  a  village  two  leagues  from  Apchon,  in  the  mountains  of  Au¬ 
vergne,  saw  one  of  his  acquaintance  going  a  hunting,  and  begged 
he  would  bring  him  home  some  game.  The  hunter,  while  occu¬ 
pied  in  the  chase,  was  attacked  by  a  fierce  she-wolf,  and,  after 
having  fired  at  it  without  effect,  struck  at  it  with  his  hunting- 
knife,  and  cut  off  the  paw  of  its  right  fore-leg,  on  which  it  im¬ 
mediately  took  to  flight.  The  hunter  took  up  the  paw,  threw  it 
into  his  bag  with  the  rest  of  his  game,  and  soon  afterward  re¬ 
turned  to  his  friend’s  chateau,  and  told  him  of  his  adventure,  at 
the  same  time  putting  his  hand  into .  the  bag  to  bring  forth  the 
wolf’s  paw  in  confirmation  of  his  story.  What  was  his  surprise 
at  drawing  out  a  lady’s  hand,  with  a  gold  ring  on  one  finger! 
His  friend’s  astonishment  was  still  greater  when  he  recognised 
the  ring  as  one  which  he  had  given  to  his  own  wife  ;  and,  de¬ 
scending  hastily  into  the  kitchen,  he  found  the  lady  wanning 
herself  by  the  fire,  with  her  right  arm  wrapped  in  her  apron. 
This  he  at  once  seized,  and  found  to  his  horror  that  the  hand 
was  cut  off.  The  lady  confessed  that  it  was  she  who,  in  the  form 
of  a  wolf,  had  attacked  the  hunter  ;  she  was,  in  due  course  of 
time,  brought  to  her  trial  and  condemned,  and  was  immediately 
afterward  burnt  at  Rioms. 

In  1578,  a  witch  was  burnt  at  Compiegne  ;  she  confessed  that 
she  had  given  herself  to  the  devil,  who  appeared  to  her  as  a 
great  black  man,  on  horseback,  booted  and  spurred.  Another 
avowed  witch  was  burnt  the  same  year,  who  also  stated  that  the 
evil  one  came  to  her  in  the  shape  of  a  black  man.  In  1582  and 
1583,  several  witches  were  burnt,  all  frequenters  of  the  sabbaths. 
Several  local  councils  at  this  date  passed  severe  laws  against 


THE  WITCHES’  SABBATH. 


187 


witchcraft,  and  from  that  time  to  the  end  of  the  century,  the  num¬ 
ber  of  miserable  persons  put  to  death  in  France  under  the  accu¬ 
sation  was  very  great.  In  the  course  only  of  fifteen  years,  from 
1580  to  1595,  and  only  in  one  province,  that  of  Lorraine,  the 
president  Remigius  burnt  nine  hundred  witches,  and  as  many 
more  fled  out  of  the  country  to  save  their  lives  ;  and  about  the 
close  of  the  century,  one  of  the  French  judges  tells  us  that  the 
crime  of  witchcraft  had  become  so  common,  that  there  were  not 
jails  enough  to  hold  the  prisoners,  or  judges  to  hear  their  causes. 
A  trial  which  he  had  witnessed  in  1568,  induced  Jean  Bodin,  a 
learned  physician,  to  compose  his  book  “  De  la  Demonomanie 
des  Sorceiers,”  which  was  ever  afterward  the  text-book  on  this 
subject. 

Among  the  English  witches,  the  evil  one  generally  came 
in  person  to  seduce  his  victims,  but  in  France  and  other  coun¬ 
tries,  this  seems  to  have  been  unnecessary,  as  each  person,  when 
once  initiated,  became  seized  with  an  uncontrollable  desire  of  ma¬ 
king  converts,  whom  he  or  she  carried  to  the  sabbath  to  be  duly 
enrolled.  Bodin  says,  that  one  witch  was  enough  to  corrupt  five 
hundred  honest  persons.  The  infection  quickly  ran  through  a 
family,  and  was  generally  carried  down  from  generation  to  gen¬ 
eration,  which  explained  satisfactorily,  according  to  the  learned 
commentator  on  demonology  just  mentioned,  the  extent  to  which 
the  evil  had  spread  itself  in  his  days.  The  novice,  at  his  or  her 
reception,  after  having  performed  the  preliminaries,  and  in  gen¬ 
eral  received  a  new  and  burlesque  rite  of  baptism,  was  marked 
with  the  sign  of  the  demon  in  some  part  of  the  body  least  ex¬ 
posed  to  observation,  and  performed  the  first  criminal  act  of  com¬ 
pliance  which  was  afterward  to  be  so  frequently  repeated,  the 
evil  one  presenting  himself  on  these  occasions  in  the  form  of 
either  sex,  according  to  that  of  the  victim. 

The  sabbath  was  generally  held  in  some  wild  and  solitary 
spot,  often  in  the  midst  of  forests  or  on  the  heights  of  mountains, 
at  a  great  distance  from  the  residence  of  most  of  the  visiters. 
The  circumstances  connected  with  it  most  difficult  of  proof,  yet 
of  no  small  importance  in  support  of  the  truth  of  the  confessions, 
was  the  reality  and  method  of  transport  from  one  place  to  anoth¬ 
er.  The  witches  nearly  all  agreed  in  the  statement  that  they  di¬ 
vested  themselves  of  their  clothes,  and  anointed  their  bodies  with 
an  ointment  made  for  that  especial  purpose.  They  then  strode 
across  a  stick,  or  any  similar  article,  and,  muttering  a  charm, 
were  carried  through  the  air  to  the  place  of  meeting  in  an  incred¬ 
ibly  short  space  of  time.  Sometimes  the  stick  was  to  be  anoint- 


183 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


erl  as  well  as  their  persons.  They  generally  left  the  house  by 
the  window  or  by  the  chimney,  which  latter,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  was  rather  a  favorite  way  of  exit.  Sometimes,  however, 
the  witch  went  out  by  the  door,  and  there  found  a  demon  in  the 
shape  of  a  goat,  or  at  times  of  some  other  animal,  who  carried 
her  away  on  his  back,  and  brought  her  home  again  after  the 
meetinsr  was  dissolved.  In  the  confessions  extorted  from  them 
at  their  trials,  the  witches  and  sorcerers  bore  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  all  these  particulars  ;  but  those  who  judged  them,  and 
who  wrote  upon  the  subject,  asserted  that  they  had  many  other 
independent  proofs  in  corroboration. 

We  are  assured  by  Bodin  that  a  man  who  lived  at  the  little 
town  of  Loches,  having  observed  that  his  wife  frequently  ab¬ 
sented  herself  from  the  house  in  the  night,  became  suspicious  of 
her  conduct,  and  at  last  by  his  threats  obliged  her  to  confess  that 
she  was  a  witch,  and  that  she  attended  the  sabbaths.  To  ap¬ 
pease  the  anger  of  her  husband,  she  agreed  to  gratify  his  curi¬ 
osity  by  taking  him  with  her  to  the  next  meeting,  but  she  warned 
him  on  no  account  whatever  to  allow  the  name  of  God  or  of 
the  Savior,  to  escape  his  lips.  At  the  appointed  time  they 
stripped  and  anointed  themselves,  and,  after  uttering  the  necessa¬ 
ry  formula,  they  were  suddenly  transported  to  the  landes  of  Bor¬ 
deaux,  at  an  immense  distance  from  their  own  dwelling.  The 
husband  there  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  great  assembly  of 
both  sexes  in  the  same  state  of  deshabille  as  himself  and  his  wife, 
and  in  one  part  he  saw  the  devil  in  a  hideous  form  ;  but  in  the 
first  moment  of  his  surprise,  he  inadvertently  uttered  the  excla¬ 
mation,  “  Mon  Dieu  !  ou  sommes-nous ”•  and  all  disappeared  as 
suddenly  from  his  view,  leaving  him  cold  and  naked  in  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  the  fields,  where  he  wandered  till  morning,  when  the 
countrymen  coming  to  their  daily  occupations  told  him  where  he 
was,  and  he  made  his  way  home  in  the  best  manner  he  could. 
But  he  lost  no  time  in  denouncing  his  wife,  who  was  brought  to 
her  trial,  confessed,  and  was  burnt. 

The  same  thing  is  stated  to  have  happened  to  a  man  at  Lyons, 
with  a  similar  result ;  and  other  instances  are  given  by  Bodin 
and  contemporary  writers  on  the  same  subject.  In  Italy,  in  the 
year  1535,  a  young  girl  of  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  the 
duchy  of  Spoleto,  was  taken  to  the  sabbath  for  the  first  time  by 
her  mother,  who  had  cautioned  her  against  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross.  But  when  the  damsel  saw  so  vast  a  multitude  of  per¬ 
sons  collected  together  with  so  much  splendor,  and  Satan  seated 
on  a  high  throne,  and  dressed  in  garments  of  purple  and  gold, 


THE  WITCI-I  AT  ROME. 


139 


she  was  so  much  astonished  that,  involuntarily  crossing  herself, 
she  exclaimed,  “  Jesu  benedetto  !  che  cosa  e  questa? ”  The  lights 
and  the  company  suddenly  disappeared  from  her  sight,  and  she 
was  thrown  with  some  violence  on  the  ground,  where  she  rec¬ 
ommended  herself  to  the  protection  of  the  Virgin.  Toward 
morning  an  old  man  arid  his  daughter  passed  near  the  spot  with 
an  ass,  and  hearing  a  female  voice  in  a  tone  of  lamentation,  he 
approached  the  spot,  and  was  still  more  astonished  to  find  a 
young  maiden  in  a  state  of  nudity.  She  at  once  told  him  her 
story,  and  he  gave  her  part  of  his  garments  to  cover  her,  carried 
her  home,  and  two  or  three  days  afterward  restored  her  to  her 
family,  who  lived  at  some  distance  from  the  spot  where  she  was 
found,  and  who  supposed  she  had  been  carried  off  by  some  of 
the  many  lawless  depredators  who  then  infested  the  country. 
The  mother,  who  carried  her  to  the  sabbath,  was  tried  as  a 
witch,  and  burnt.  Another  learned  Italian  writer  tells  us  a  no 
less  extraordinary  story  as  having  happened  within  his  own 
knowledge.  A  man  of  respectability,  residing  at  Venice,  was 
surprised  one  morning  to  find  the  daughter  of  an  old  acquaint¬ 
ance,  who  lived  at  Bergomi,  lying  naked  on  one  of  his  beds, 
near  the  cradle  of  his  infant  son.  After  being  clothed  and  com¬ 
forted,  she  told  him  that,  waking  in  the  night,  she  had  seen  her 
mother  rise  from  her  bed,  strip,  and  rub  her  body  with  an  oint¬ 
ment,  and  then  disappear  through  the  window.  Prompted  by 
her  curiosity,  she  imitated  all  that  her  mother  had  done,  when 
she  was  suddenly  transported  into  the  place  where  he  had  found 
her,  where  she  beheld  her  mother  preparing  to  kill  the  child  in 
the  cradle.  Her  astonishment  at  this  sudden  adventure,  and  the 
fright  caused  by  her  parent’s  threats,  had  made  her  cry  out  upon 
Christ  and  the  Virgin,  when  her  mother  vanished,  and  she  was 
left  there  in  darkness.  The  man  immediately  sent  a  statement 
of  this  affair  to  the  inquisitor  of  the  district,  who  seized  upon  the 
girl’s  mother,  and  the  latter  confessed  herself  a  witch,  and  said 
that  she  had  frequently  been  urged  by  the  evil  one  to  destroy  the 
child  of  her  acquaintance. 

The  Italian  trials  of  this  period  furnish  several  similar  inci¬ 
dents.  In  1524,  Grillandus,  one  of  the  most  eminent  writers  on 
the  subject,  examined  a  young  witch  at  Rome,  concerning  whom 
the  following  evidence  was  given.  She  was  returning  one 
night  from  the  sabbath  rather  later  than  was  prudent,  carried  as 
usual  on  the  back  of  her  familiar,  when,  as  they  approached  the 
town  at  which  she  lived,  the  church  bells  began  to  sound  for 
matins.  The  demon  in  a  fright  threw  her  among  the  bushes  by 


190 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  river  side,  and  fled.  At  daybreak  a  youth  of  the  town,  whom 
she  knew,  passed  near  the  spot,  and  she  called  to  him  by  his 
name.  Terrified  at  the  unexpected  call,  at  first  he  was  on  the 
point  of  leaving  her  with  as  little  ceremony  as  the  evil  one  had 
done,  till  recognising  the  voice  he  went  nearer,  and  was  not  a 
little  surprised  to  see  the  woman  in  such  a  position,  with  dishe¬ 
velled  hair,  and  in  a  state  nearly  approaching  to  nudity,  and  asked 
her  how  she  came  there.  She  replied,  in  evident  confusion, 
that  she  was  seeking  her  ass.  The  young  man  observed  that  it 
was  not  usual  to  go  in  such  a  pursuit  in  the  state  in  which  she 
then  appeared,  and  insisted  upon  a  more  probable  account  of  her 
adventure  before  he  would  lend  her  any  assistance  ;  and,  after 
he  had  solemnly  promised  to  keep  the  secret,  she  confessed  the 
truth,  and  she  subsequently  gave  him  more  substantial  rewards 
for  his  silence.  After  a  while,  however,  he  incautiously  spoke 
of  it  to  one  or  two  of  his  friends,  and  it  began  to  be  rumored 
abroad,  until  it  reached  the  ears  of  the  inquisitioners.  Then  the 
woman  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  her  confidant  was  brought 
forward,  and  obliged  to  depose  against  her. 

With  statements  like  these,  sent  abroad  under  the  hand  of 
men  of  known  learning  and  station  in  society,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  if  men’s  minds  became  irrevocably  entangled  in 
superstition. 

As  the  witches  generally  went  from  their  beds  at  night  to  the 
meetings,  leaving  their  husbands  and  family  behind  them,  it  may 
seem  extraordinary  that  their  absence  was  not  more  frequently 
perceived.  They  had,  however,  a  method  of  providing  against 
this  danger,  by  casting  a  drowsiness  over  those  who  might  be 
witnesses,  and  by  placing  in  their  bed  an  image  which,  to  all 
outward  appearance,  bore  an  exact  resemblance  to  themselves, 
although  in  reality  it  was  nothing  more  than  a  besom  or  some 
other  similar  article.  But  the  belief  was  also  inculcated  that  the 
witches  did  not  always  go  in  body  to  the  sabbath — that  they 
were  present  only  in  spirit,  while  their  body  remained  in  bed. 
Some  of  the  more  rationalizing  writers  on  witchcraft  taught  that 
this  was  the  only  manner  in  which  they  were  ever  carried  to  the 
sabbaths,  and  various  instances  are  deposed  to,  where  that  was 
manifestly  the  case.  The  president  De  la  Touretta  told  Bodin 
that  he  had  examined  a  witch,  who  was  subsequently  burnt  in 
Dauphine,  and  who  had  been  carried  to  the  sabbath  in  this  man¬ 
ner.  Her  master  one  night  found  her  stretched  on  the  floor  be¬ 
fore  the  fire  in  a  state  of  insensibility,  and  imagined  her  to  be 
dead.  In  his  attempts  to  rouse  her,  he  first  beat  her  body  with 


THE  WOMAN  BEATEN. 


191 


great  severity,  and  then  applied  fire  to  the  more  sensitive  parts, 
which  being  without  effect,  he  left  her  in  the  belief  that  she  had 
died  suddenly.  His  astonishment  was  great  when  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  he  found  her  in  her  own  bed,  in  an  evident  state  of  great  suf¬ 
fering.  When  he  asked  what  ailed  her,  her  only  answer  was, 
“  Ha  !  mon  maistre ,  tant  m'avez  batue  /”  When  further  pressed, 
however,  she  confessed  that  during  the  time  her  body  lay  in  a 
state  of  insensibility,  she  had  been  herself  to  the  witches’  sabbath, 
and  upon  this  avowal  she  was  committed  to  prison.  Bodin  fur¬ 
ther  informs  us  that  at  Bordeaux,  in  1571,  an  old  woman,  who 
was  condemned  to  the  fire  for  witchcraft,  had  confessed  that  she 
was  transported  to  the  sabbath  in  this  manner.  One  of  her 
judges,  the  maitre-des-requetes,  who  was  personally  known  to 
Bodin,  while  she  was  under  examination,  pressed  her  to  show 
how  this  was  effected,  and  released  her  from  her  fetters  for  that 
purpose.  She  rubbed  herself  in  different  parts  of  the  body  with 
“  a  certain  grease,”  and  immediately  became  stiff  and  insensible, 
and,  to  all  appearance,  dead.  She  remained  in  this  state  about 
five  hours,  and  then  as  quickly  revived,  and  told  her  inquisitors 
a  great  number  of  extraordinary  things,  which  showed  that  she 
must  have  been  spiritually  transported  to  far  distant  places.  Thus 
teslifieth  Jean  Bodin. 

The  description  of  the  sabbath  given  by  the  witches  differed 
only  in  slight  particulars  of  detail  ;  for  their  examinations  were 
all  carried  on  upon  one  model  and  measure — a  veritable  bed  of 
Procrustes,  and  equally  fatal  to  those  who  were  placed  upon  it. 
The  sabbath  was,  in  general,  an  immense  assemblage  of  witches 
and  demons,  sometimes  from  distant  parts  of  the  earth,  at  others 
only  from  the  province  or  district  in  which  it  was  held.  On 
arriving,  the  visiters  performed  their  homage  to  the  evil  one  with 
unseemly  ceremonies,  and  presented  their  new  converts.  They 
then  gave  an  account  of  all  the  mischief  they  had  done  since  the 
last  meeting.  Those  who  had  neglected  to  do  evil,  or  who  had 
so  far  overlooked  themselves  as  to  do  good,  were  treated  with 
disdain,  or  severely  punished.  Several  of  the  victims  of  the 
French  courts  in  the  latter  part  of  this  century  confessed  that, 
having  been  unwilling  or  unable  to  fulfil  the  commands  of  the' 
evil  one,  when  they  appeared  at  the  sabbath  he  had  beaten  them 
in  the  most  cruel  manner.  He  took  one  woman,  who  had  re¬ 
fused  to  bewitch  her  neighbor’s  daughter,  and  threatened  to 
drown  her  in  the  Moselle.  Others  were  plagued  in  their  bodies, 
or .  by  destruction  of  their  property.  Some  were  punished  for 
their  irregular  attendance  at  the  sabbath  ;  and  one  or  two,  for 


192 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


blighter  offences,  were  condemned  to  walk  home  from  the  sab- 
bath  instead  of  being  carried  through  the  air.  Those,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  had  exerted  most  of  their  mischievous  propen¬ 
sities  were  highly  honored  at  the  sabbath,  and  often  rewarded 
with  gifts  of  money,  &c.  After  this  examination  was  passed, 
the  demon  distributed  among  his  worshippers,  unguents,  powders, 
and  other  articles  for  the  perpetration  ot  evil. 

It  appears,  also,  that  the  witches  were  expected,  at  least  once 
a  year,  to  bring  an  offering  to  their  master.  This  circumstance 
was  certainly  derived  from  the  earlier  popular  superstitions  ; 
offerings  to  demons  are  mentioned  frequently  in  the  early  Ger¬ 
man  and  Anglo-Saxon  laws  against  paganism,  and  the  reader 
will  remember  the  nine  red  cocks  and  nine  peacocks’  eyes 
offered  by  the  Lady  Alice  Ivyteler.  A  French  witch,  executed 
in  1580,  confessed  that  some  of  her  companions  offered  a  sheep 
or  a  heifer  :  and  another,  executed  the  following  year,  stated 
that  animals  of  a  black  color  were  most  acceptable.  A  third, 
executed  at  Gerbeville  in  1585,  declared  that  no  one  was  ex¬ 
empt  from  this  offering,  and  that  the  poorer  sort  offered  a  hen  or 
a  chicken,  and  some  even  a  lock  of  their  hair,  a  little  bird,  or  any 
trifle  they  could  put  their  hands  upon.  Severe  punishments  fol¬ 
lowed  the  neglect  of  this  ceremony.  In  many  instances,  accor¬ 
ding  to  the  confessions  of  the  witches,  beside  their  direct  wor¬ 
ship  of  the  devil,  they  were  obliged  to  show  their  abhorrence  of 
the  faith  they  had  deserted  by  trampling  on  the  cross,  and  blas¬ 
pheming  the  saints,  and  by  other  profanations. 

Before  the  termination  of  the  meeting,  the  new  witches,  re¬ 
ceived  their  familiars,  or  imps,  whom  they  generally  addressed 
as  their  “  little  masters,”  although  they  were  bound  to  attend  at 
the  bidding  of  the  witches,  and  execute  their  desires.  These 
received  names,  generally  of  a  popular  character,  such  as  were 
given  to  cats,  and  dogs,  and  other  pet  animals,  and  the  similarity 
these  names  bear  to  each  other  in  different  countries  is  very  re¬ 
markable.  Examples  of  English  names  of  familiars  have  been 
given  in  the  last  chapter.  In  France,  we  have  such  names  as 
Minette  (that  is,  puss),  Robin,  Maistre  Persil,  Joly-bois,  Verde- 
let,  Saute-buisson,  &c. ;  in  Germany,  the  names  are  Unglue  (that 
is,  misfortune),  Mash-leid  (mischief),  Tzum-walt-vliegen  (flying 
to  the  wood),  Federwiich  (feather-washer),  and  the  like.  The 
forms  seem  to  have  been  generally  those  of  animals  ;  and  they 
are  described  as  speaking  with  a  voice  like  that  of  a  man  with 
his  mouth  in  a  jug. 

After  all  these  preliminary  ceremonies — or  rather  the  business 


THE  DANCE  OF  THE  WITCHES.  193 

of  tlie  meeting— had  been  transacted,  a  great  banquet  was  laid  out, 
and  the  whole  company  fell  to  eating  and  drinking  and  making  mer- 
iy.  At  times,  every  article  of  luxury  was  placed  before  them,  and 
they  feasted  in  the  most  sumptuous  manner.  Often,  however 
the  meats  served  on  the  table  were  nothing  but  toads  and  rats’ 
and  other  articles  01  a  revolting  nature.  In  general  they  had  no 
salt,,  and  seldom  bread.  But,  even  when  best  served,  the  money 
and  the  victuals  furnished  by  the  demons  were  of  a  most  unsat¬ 
isfactory  character  ;  a  circumstance  of  which  no  rational  explan¬ 
ation  is  given  The  coin,  when  brought  forth  by  open  daylight, 
was  generally  found  to  be  nothing  better  than  dried  leaves  or  bits 
of  dirt;  and,  however  greedily  they  may  have  eaten  at  the  ta- 

hunger^  C°mm0n  y  left  tlie  meeting  in  a  state  of  exhaustion  from 

The  tables  were  next  removed,  and  feasting  gave  way  to  wild 
and  uproarious  dancing  and  revelry.  The  common  dance,  or 
carole,  of  the  midd  e  ages  appear  to  have  been  performed  by  par- 
'6!  earcii  oner’s  hand  m  a  circle,  alternately  a  gentleman 

a  ay.  I  his,  probably  the  ordinary  dance  among  the  peas¬ 
antry,  was  the  one  generally  practised  at  the  sabbaths  of  the 
witches,  with  this  peculiarity,  that  their  backs  instead  of  their 
faces  were  turned  inward.  The  old  writers  endeavor  to  account 
lor  this,  by  supposing  that  it  was  designed  to  prevent  them  from 
seeing  and  recognising  each  other.  But  this,  it  is  clear,  was  not 
the  only  dance  of  the  sabbath  ;  perhaps  more  fashionable  ones 
were  introduced  for  witches  in  a  better  condition  in  society;  and 
moralists  of  the  succeeding  age  maliciously  insinuate  that  many 
dances  of  a  not  very  decorous  character,  invented  by  the  devil 
himself  to  heat  the  imaginations  of  his  victims,  had  subsequent- 
ly  been  adopted  by  classes  in  society  who  did  not  frequent  the 
sabbath.  It  may  be  observed,  as  a  curious  circumstance,  that  the 
modern  waltz  is  first  traced  among  the  meetings  of  the  witches 
and  their  imps  !  It  was  also  confessed,  in  almost  every  case 
that  the  dances  at  the  sabbath  produced  much  greater  fatigue  than 
commonly  arose  from  such  exercises.  Many  of  the  witches  de¬ 
clared  that,  on  their  return  home,  they  were  usually  unable  to 
rise  from  their  bed  for  two  or  three  days. 

'Their  music,  also,  was  by  no  means  of  an  ordinary  character 
1  he  songs  were  generally  obscene,  or  vulgar,  or  ridiculous.  Of 
instruments  there  was  considerable  variety,  but  all  partakhm  0f 
the  burlesque  character  of  the  proceedings.  Some  played  the 
in  U|>0n  a  St^Ck  °r  k°ne  >  another  was  seen  striking  a  horse’s 
skull  for  a  lyre ;  there  you  saw  them  beating  the  drum  on  the 

17 


]  94 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


trunk  of  an  oak,  with  a  stick;  here,  others  were  blowing  trum¬ 
pets  with  the  branches.  The  louder  the  instrument,  the  greater 
satisfaction  if  gave  ;  and  the  dancing  became  wilder  and  wilder, 
until  it  merged  into  a  vast  scene  of  confusion,  and  ended  in 
scenes  over  which,  though  minutely  described  in  the  old  trea¬ 
tises  on  demonology,  it  will  be  better  to  throw  a  veil.  The  witch¬ 
es  separated  in  time  to  reach  their  homes  before  cock-crow. 

In  the  intervals  between  their  meetings,  the  witches  passed 
their  whole  time  in  devising  and  performing  mischief;  and  to 
them  were  ascribed  the  storms  or  blights  which  devastated  the 
fields,  and  destroyed  the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  the  loss  of  cattle  or 
of  property  ;  ill-luck,  diseases,  and  death.  They  thus  became, 
among  the  peasantry,  a  hateful  class  ;  and  every  mouth  was  open 
to  accuse  them,  and  every  hand  to  persecute.  In  these  respects, 
and  in  nature  of  their  supposed  agency,  the  witches  of  France 
differed  in  no  respect  from  those  of  England. 

The  truth  of  all  these  wondrous  recitals  depended,  as  will  have 
been  seen,  entirely  upon  the  confessions  of  the  witches  themselves, 
or  on  the  accusations  of  others  equally  under  arrest  as  criminals 
of  the  same  description.  When  we  read,  in  the  writers  of  those 
times,  the  systematically-arranged  directions  for  proceeding 
against  criminals  of  this  class  in  France,  Germany,  and  Italy, 
we  feel  a  sentiment  of  horror  in  contemplating  the  utter  neglect 
of  every  principle  of  justice,  and  in  considering  that  this  arose 
from  no  deliberate  intention  of  acting  tyrannically,  but  from  the 
mere  perversion  of  human  judgment,  by  the  extraordinary  inllu- 
ence  of  the  lowest  class  of  superstitions.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
how  far,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  the  credulity  of  mankind 
may  be  carried.  We  frequently,  however,  observe  in  the  most 
zealous  writers  against  witchcraft,  the  involuntary  expression  of 
a  kind  of  instinctive  feeling  of  the  weakness  of  evidence,  while 
they  are  at  the  same  time  crying  up  for  its  irresistible  force.  In 
this  feeling,  they  catch  at  anything  that  seems  to  offer  a  corrobo¬ 
ration,  with  little  inclination  to  examine  critically  into  its  truth. 
Popular  legends,  and  old  stories  and  fables,  thus  often  raise  their 
heads  among  the  learnedly  paraded  confessions  of  the  prisoners, 
and  helped,  no  doubt,  to  confuse  and  bewilder  the  minds  of  many 
who  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  theological  and  judicial  trea¬ 
tises  on  witchcraft,  with  the  real  wish  to  discover  the  truth.  It 
was  from  tales  like  those  alluded  to,  current  still  among  the  peas¬ 
antry  in  every  part  of  the  world,  that  they  brought  forward  what 
they  fondly  believed  were  independent  proofs  of  the  accuracy  of 
statements,  which  otherwise  depended  only  upon  the  forced  con- 


THE  WITCHES  OF  THE  VOSGES.  195 

fessions  of  criminals.  From  these  latter,  alone,  the  public  were 
acquainted  with  the  astounding  details  of  the  sabbaths  But  Re- 
liugius,  and  other  ioreign  writers,  brought  forward  persons  who 
were  avowedly  no  witches,  and  who  had  accidentally  witnessed 
some  of  the  scenes  the  description  of  which  by  the  actors  them- 
selves,  had  caused  so  great  a  sensation.  The  wilds  of  the 
Vosges  were  celebrated  as  the  scene  of  these  midnight  assem¬ 
blies  ;  in  the  year  1583,  the  popular  festival  of  the  month  of 
May  was  held,  as  usual,  in  the  village  of  Lutzei,  at  the  foot 
o  the5e  mountains  ;  and  at  night,  one  of  the  revellers  who  had 
come  from  a  place  called  Wusenbach,  at  some  distance  in  the 
mountains,  prepared  to  return  home,  his  head  probably  filled  with 
the  good  cheer  and  revelry  of  the  day.  As  he  was  wending  his 
way  through  the  higher  partof  the  mountain  which  lay  between  the 
two  villages,  he  was  surprised  by  a  sudden  and  unusual  whirl¬ 
wind,  which  the  more  astonished  him  as  the  night  was  peculiarly 
calm.  Anxious  to  learn  the  cause  of  this  sin»ul„r  interruption, 

led  h™  lr“'"  hls  P^,  and,  looking  into  a  retired 
nook,  he  became  suddenly  aware  of  the  presence  of  beings  of  no 
ordinary  character  Six  women  were  dancing  round  a  table 
covered  with  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  and  tossing  their  heads 
in  a  wild  manner  ;  and  near  them  was  a  man,  seated  on  a  black 
bull,  and  apparently  enjoying  the  scene,  on  which  he  was  quietly 
gazing.  Of  anything  beyond  this  group,  Claude  Chote  (for  such 
was  the  man  s  name)  was  ignorant,  for  as  he  bent  forward  t<5  ex¬ 
amine  them  more  carefully,  whether  he  made  a  noise,  or  uttered 
a  piayer,  is  not  said,  but  the  whole  disappeared  from  his  eyes. 

"  ter  recovering  from  his  astonishment,  Claude  returned  to  the 
path  ami  continued  his  way;  but  he  had  not  gone  far  before, 
like  lam  0  Shanter,  he  found  that  he  was  closely  pursued  by 

w,l  rTn  he  lad  S?6n  1danCing  round  the  taWe>  who  came  on 
wildly,  tossing  their  heads  about,  and  led  by  a  man  with  a  black 

ace  and  eagles  claws.  The  latter  was  about  to  strike  Claude 
Chote,  when  he  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  draw  his  sword,  and 
at  the  sight  of  the  naked  steel,  his  pursuers  vanished  from  his 
sight  I  he  women,  however,  again  made  their  appearance,  in  a 
less  hostile  manner,  accompanied  by  the  man  whom  Claude  had 
seen  sitting  on  the  black  bull,  whom  he  now  recognised  as  a  per¬ 
son  o  ns  acquaintance,  and  to  whom  he  made  a  promise  that  he 
would  be  silent  on  the  subject  of  what  he  had  seen.  His  perse¬ 
cutors  then  left  him  and  he  found  that  he  had  wandered  far  out 
o  11s  way.  Alter  his  return  home  he  soon  foryot  his  promise 
of  secrecy,  the  story  was  gradually  spread  abroad,  and  Claude 


196 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


was  carried  before  a  magistrate,  and  made  a  full  confession,  the 
consequence  of  which  was,  that  some  of  the  persons  he  had 
recognised  in  the  mountains  were  placed  under  arrest,  and  one 
of  the  women,  whose  name  is  given,  corroborated  his  story,  dif¬ 
fering  only  in  this,  that  she  said  they  had  pursued  him,  not  be¬ 
cause  he  looked  at  them,  but  because  he  attempted  to  steal  a  sil¬ 
ver  goblet  from  the  table.  Remigius  gives  another  instance,  as 
occurring  in  the  year  1590,  in  the  same  part  of  France,  and, 
which  was  most  extraordinary,  at  mid-day.  A  countryman  was 
passing  along  a  path  in  the  woods,  when,  turning  his  looks  to 
one  side,  he  beheld,  in  an  open  field,  a  number  of  men  and  wo¬ 
men  dancing  in  a  circle,  all  having  their  faces  turned  outward. 
This  latter  circumstance  raised  his  curiosity,  and,  examining 
them  more  closely,  he  observed  that  among  the  rest  were  two  or 
three  men  with  feet  of  goats  and  oxen.  Struck  with  sudden  hor¬ 
ror,  he  felt  himself  fixed  to  the  spot,  his  legs  trembled  under  him, 
and  he  screamed  out  involuntary,  “  Jesus,  help  !”  The  demons 
vanished  in  an  instant  from  his  sight ;  but,  as  they  swept  by  him 
in  rising  into  the  air,  he  had  just  time  to  recognise  one  man  as  a 
native  of  his  own  village.  The  story  was  soon  made  public,  the 
spot  was  visited,  a  circle  on  the  grass  where  they  had  danced 
was  distinctly  visible,  with  here  and  there  the  marks  of  hoofs. 
The  man  who  had  been  recognised  was  arrested,  and  his  con¬ 
fession  led  to  the  discovery  and  punishment  of  several  of  the 
others,  especially  of  the  women. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  witchcraft  in¬ 
fatuation  had  risen  to  its  greatest  height  in  France,  and  not  only 
the  lower  classes,  but  persons  of  the  highest  rank  in  society, 
were  liable  to  suspicions  of  dealing  in  sorcery.  We  nd’ed  only 
mention  that  such  charges  were  publicly  made  against  King 
Henri  III.*  and  Queen  Catherine  de  Medicis,  and  that,  early  in 
the  following  century,  they  became  the  ground  of  state  trials 
which  had  a  fatal  conclusion. 

*  The  following  account  is  taken  from  one  of  the  libellous  pamphlets  against  this 
monarch,  published  by  the  partisans  of  the  Ligne,  under  the  title  of  “  Les  Sorcel- 
leries  de  Henri  de  Valois,  et  les  oblations  qu’il  faisoit  au  diable  dans  le  bois  de 
Vincennes.  Paris,  1589.”  . 

“  On  a  trouvd  dernierement  au  bois  de  Vincennes  deux  satyres  d’argent,  de  la 
hauteur  de  quatre  pieds.  IIs  6taient  audevant  d’nne  croix  d’or,  au  milieu  de  la- 
quelle  y  avait  enchass6  du  bois  de  la  vraie  croix  de  notre  seigneur  Jesus  Christ. 
Les  politiques  [that  is,  the  moderate  party]  disent,  que  e’etaient  des  chandeliers. 
Ce  qui  fait  croire  le  contraire,  e'est  que,  dans  ces  vases,  il  n’y  avoit  pas  d’aiguille 
qui  passat  pour  y  mettre  un  cierge  ou  une  petite  chandelle  ;  joint  qu’ils  tournaient 
le  derriere  a  ladite  vraie  croix.  et  que  deux  anges  ou  deux  simples  chandeliers  y 
eussent  6r6  plus  d6cens  que  ces  satyres,  estimes  par  les  payens  Stre  des  dieux  des 
forfits,  ou  l  ou  tient  que  les  mauvais  esprits  se  trouveut  plutOt  qu’eu  autres  lieux. 


THE  WITCHES  OF  LABOURD. 


197 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PIERRE  DE  LANCRE  AND  THE  WITCHES  OF  LABOURD. 

In  the  southwestern  corner  of  France,  stretching  from  the 
foot  of  the  Pyrenees  to  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  border¬ 
ing  on  Spain  to  the  south,  and  extending  northward  on  the  flat 
sandy  heaths  of  the  Landes,  is  a  small  district  which,  from  a 
Roman  station  named  Lctpurdum,  that  occupied  the  site  of  the 
present  city,  of  Bayonne,  received  in  the  middle  ages  the  name 
ol  Labourd.  The  country  and  the  people  were  equally  wild  and 
uncultivated,  the  produce  of  the  former  consisting  chiefly  of 
fruits,  while  the  latter  occupied  themselves  principally  in  fishing. 
It  was  the  men  of  Labourd  who,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  carried  on  the  fishery  at  Newfoundland, 
and  they  are  said  to  have  been  the  first  whalers.  Their  equivo¬ 
cal  position  between  the  two  rival  countries,  France  and  Spain, 
and  their  alliance  more  by  consanguinity  with  their  Basque 
neighbors  on  the  other  side  of  the  Spanish  border  than  with  the 
people  to  the  north,  seemed  almost  to  put  them  out  of  the  laws 
ol  either — a  people  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Their  more  civilized  neighbors  looked  upon  them  with  con¬ 
tempt  for  their  primitive  manners,  and  believed  that  the  demon 
had  selected  the  wild  district  they  inhabited  as  his  favorite  re¬ 
sort.  The  women,  deserted  a  great  part  of  the  year  by  their 
husbands  and  sons,  who  were  out  on  their  fishing  expeditions, 
were  more  exposed  to  temptation  than  those  of  any  other  part  of 
France,  and  the  witches  of  Labourd  had  become  proverbial. 
They,  it  was  said,  caused  the  storms  which  so  often  visited  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  and  when  the  fishermen  perished  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  adventurous  calling,  it  was  believed  that  the  winds 

Ces  monstres  diaboliques  out  6t6  vus  par  messieurs  de  la  ville  [the  leaders  of  the 
ligue].  .  .  .  Outre  ces  deux  figures  diaboliques,  on  a  trouvd  une  peau  d'enfant, 

laquelle  avait  06  corroyee  ;  et  sur  icelle,  y  avait  aussi  plusieurs  mots  de  sorcellerie 
et  divers  caracteres.  .  .  .  Tout  ee  qu'il  allait  souvent  nu  bois  de  Vincennes, 

n’etait  que  pour  entendre  a  ses  sorcelleries,  et  non  pourprier  Dieu.” 

Perhaps  the  two  satyres  were  antiques,  against  which  the  peasantry  bad  al¬ 
ways  a  prejudice.  In  early  times,  when  people  dug  up  the  Roman  bronzes  or  sculp¬ 
tures,  they  broke  them  and  threw  them  away  in  the  belief  that  they  were  instru¬ 
ments  of  magic.  It  appears  from  Mr  Collingwood  Brace’s  excellent  work  on  the 
Roman  wall,  that  this  feeling  still  exists  among  the  peasantry  of  Northumberland. 

17* 


193 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


which  overwhelmed  them  were  sent  by  their  wives,  who  had 
formed  other  connections  in  their  absence. 

In  the  year  1609,  the  subject  of  sorcery  occupied  the  attention 
of  the  parliament  of  Bordeaux,  under  whose  jurisdiction  this 
country  lay,  and  it  was  resolved  to  attack  Satan  in  his  head¬ 
quarters  by  purging  the  district  of  Labourd  of  his  worshippers. 
For  this  purpose,  a  royal  commission  was  given  to  two  conseil- 
lers ,  or  judges,  of  the  parliament,  Pierre  de  Lancre,  and  the 
president  Jean  d’Espaignet,  and  they  went  to  Labourd  in  the 
month  of  May,  in  the  year  just  mentioned,  armed  with  full  au¬ 
thority  to  bring  all  who  had  been  seduced  by  the  fiend  to  imme¬ 
diate  judgment.  The  two  commissioners  remained  in  Labourd 
four  months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they  were  called  away  by 
other  business  ;  but  their  crusade  against  sorcery  had  been  an 
extraordinary  active  one,  and  an  immense  number  of  wretched 
people  were  sacrificed  to  their  zeal.  Pierre  de  Lancre,  espe¬ 
cially,  became  so  profoundly  learned  in  the  subject  of  witchcraft, 
that  after  his  return  from  this  expedition,  he  compiled  a  large 
book  on  the  subject,  which  remains  as  one  of  the  most  extraor¬ 
dinary  monuments  of  the  superstition  of  those  ages  .* 

De  Lancre  was  astonished  at  the  multitude  of  sorcerers  he 
found  within  the  limits  of  the  small  district  of  Labourd,!  and 
that  a  country  so  barren  in  other  respects  should  be  fertile  only 
in  servants  of  Satan.  He  attributed  this  to  the  barbarous  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  inhabitants,  to  the  deserted  state  of  the  women  during 
the  fishing  season,  and  to  the  idle  and  dissolute  life  of  the  whole 
population  during  the  rest  of  the  year.  He  intimates  that  the 
priests  were  nearly  as  ignorant  and  vicious  as  the  people,  that 
they  were  the  usual  companions  of  the  women  during  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  their  husbands,  and  that,  as  they  allowed  them  to  assist 
in  the  services  of  the  church,  so  they  joined  with  them  in  that 
of  the  devil,  who  not  only  gained  possession  of  the  clergy,  but 
even  of  the  churches  themselves,  in  some  of  which  he  held  his 
meetings  of  witches.  Thus,  we  are  told,  Labourd  became  the 
general  refuge  of  all  the  demons  whom  the  catholic  missionaries 
had  driven  away  from  India,  Japan,  and  other  distant  lands, 
and  De  Lancre  gravely  tells  us  that  the  English,  Scotch,  and 
other  merchants,  who  came  to  purchase  their  wines  at  Bordeaux, 

*  Tableau  de  l’lneonstance  des  Mauvnis  Angeset  Demons,  ou  il  est  amplement 
traicie  des  Sorcies  et  Demons.  4to.  Paris,  1612. 

t  Mais  de  voir  tant  de  demons  et  mauvais  esprits,  et  tant  de  soreiers  et  sorcierea 
confinez  en  ce  pays  de  Labourt,  qui  n’est  qu’un  petit  recoing  de  la  France,  de  voir 
que  c’est  la  pepiniere,  et  qu’en  nul  lieu  del’Europe,  qu’on  scache,  il  n’y  a  rien  qui 
upproche  du  nombre  infiny  que  nous  y  en  avons  trouvfe,  c’est  la  merveille. 


PLACES  OF  ASSEMBLY. 


199 


assured  him  they  had  seen  on  their  voyage  troops  of  demons  in 
the  shapes  of  monstrous  men  passing  through  the  air  to  that 
country. 

“  They  reckon,”  says  De  Lancre,  “  that  there  are  thirty 
thousand  souls  in  this  country  of  Labourd,  counting  those  who 
are  at  sea,  and  that  among  all  this  people  there  are  a  few  fami¬ 
lies  not  affected  with  sorcery  in  some  one  of  their  members.  If 
the  number  of  sorcerers  condemned  to  the  fire  is  so  great,  one 
of  them  said  to  me  one  day,  it  will  be  strange  if  I  have  not  a 
share  in  the  cinders.  Which  is  the  cause  that  we  see  most  fre¬ 
quently  the  son  accuse  the  mother  or  the  father,  the  brother  the 
sister,  the  husband  the  wife,  and  sometimes  the  reverse.  Which 
proximity  is  the  cause  that  many  heads  of  families,  officers,  and 
other  people  of  quality,  finding  themselves  entangled  in  it,  pre¬ 
fer  suffering-  the  incommodity  that  may  be  in  this  abomination 
which  the  sorcerers  hold  always  in  some  doubt  among  their  ac¬ 
quaintance,  than  to  see  so  many  executions,  gibbets,  flames,  and 
fires  ol  people  who  are  so  near  in  affinity  to  them.  We  were 
never  in  want  of  proof ;  the  multiplicity  and  the  infinite  number 
caused  our  horror.  On  our  arrival  they  fled  in  troops,  both  by 
land  and  by  sea;  lower  and  upper  Navarre  and  the  Spanish 
frontier  were  filled  with  them  hourly.  They  pretended  pilgrim¬ 
ages  to  Montserrat  and  St.  James’s,  or  voyages  to  Newfound¬ 
land  and  elsewhere,  and  they  raised  such  an  alarm  in  Navarre 
and  Spain,  that  the  inquisitors  came  to  the  frontier,  and  wrote 
to  us,  that  we  would  please  to  send  them  the  names,  age,  and 
other  marks  of  the  fugitive  sorcerers,  in  order  that  they  might 
send  them  back  to  us,  which  they  said  they  would  do  willingly. 
And  we  wrote  back  to  them  earnestly,  that  we  wished  them  to 
keep  them  carefully,  and  prevent  their  returning,  as  we  were 
more  anxious  to  be  rid  of  them  than  to  get  them  back.  It  is  a 
bad  piece  of  furniture,  which  is  better  out  of  the  inventory!” 

It  was  a  remarkable  characteristic  of  this  country  that  the 
witches  were  usually  young  women,  and  many  of  those  tried  and 
brought  up  as  witnesses  were  mere  girls.  The  demons  were  so 
bold,  that  they  hardly  thought  it  necessary  to  seek  retired  places 
for  their  meetings,  but  assembled  sometimes  in  public  thorough- 
lares.  Thus  they  often  met  in  the  place  before  a  church,  and  in 
the  churchyard — even,  at  times,  in  the  church  itself.  They  had 
held  sabbaths  in  houses  in  Bayonne  and  elsewhere.  They  often 
met  near  Bordeaux,  at  the  palais  Galienne,  as  the  Roman  amphi¬ 
theatre  at  that  place  was  called.  They  met  not  unfrequently  in 
the  cemetry  and  in  the  ruined  castle  of  St.  Be.  Most  of  the 


200 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


witches  confessed  that  their  favorite  resorts  were  at  cross-roads 
(carrefours).  There  were,  however,  two  or  three  principal  pla¬ 
ces  of  meeting  for  the  grand  assemblies,  and  these  were  general¬ 
ly  in  wild  and  lonely  situations.  One  of  these  was  on  the  bleak 
summit  of  the  mountain  of  La  Rhune,  overlooking  the  sea.  An¬ 
other  was  on  the  coast  of  Andaye,  where  some  of  the  witches  con¬ 
fessed  they  had  been  present,  when  there  were  at  least  .twelve 
thousand  persons  assembled.  A  third  was  on  the  landes,  at  a 
place  which  was  called  popularly  Lane  de  Aquclarre,  or  the  lando 
of  the  goat,  as  that  was  the  form  in  which  the  evil  oue  usually 
presented  himself  there.  Marie  de  Naguille,  a  girl  of  sixteen 
years,  said  that  her  mother  used  to  take  her  through  the  air  to 
the  sabbath,  under  her  arm,  having  first  anointed  herself  on  the 
top  of  the  head  with  an  ointment ;  that  their  sabbath  was  held  at 
a  place  in  the  pass  of  Ustariiz;  and  that  when  they  separated 
they  often  went  home  on  foot.  A  girl  of  Siboro,  of  the  same  age, 
named  Jeannette  d’Abadie,  stated  that  four  years  had  then  passed 
since  she  was  first  taken  to  the  sabbath  by  a  woman  named  Gra- 
tiane.  She  had  since  become  tired  of  this  life,  and  had  watched 
in  the  church  of  Siboro  all  night,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
demon  came  and  took  her  away  by  day;  and  that  on  Sunday  the 
13th  of  September,  1609,  after  watching  all  night,  the  evil  one 
came  and  took  her  away  at  mid-day,  in  church-time,  as  she  was 
laying  asleep  at  home.  She  wore  round  her  neck  a  kiga,  or  am¬ 
ulet  against  fascination,  which  -was  made  of  leather,  and  repre¬ 
sented  a  hand  closed,  the  thumb  passing  between  two  of  the  fin¬ 
gers  ;  it  was  an  article  in  very  common  use.  The  demon  tore 
this  from  her  neck,  and  threw  it  behind  the  door  of  her  chamber 
as  they  went  out  together. 

Jeannette  d’Abadie  said  that  her  conductor  Gratiane  often  took 
her  to  Newfoundland  ;  that  they  passed  through  the  air,  as  though 
they  were  flying,  she  holding  by  the  robe  of  Gratiane  ;  and  that 
they  went  in  the  company  of  other  witches.  At  Newfoundland 
she  saw  “  all  sorts  of  people”  from  Labourd,  who  were  raising 
storms  to  sink  the  ships  and  other  vessels,  and  that  they  thus 
sunk  one  belonging  to  Marticot  de  Miguelcorena,  of  Siboro,  who, 
being  a  sorcerer,  helped  to  sink  his  own  ship.  Several  women 
told  Marie  de  la  Ralde,  a  witch  examined  by  De  Lancre,  that 
they  had  made  the  voyage  to  Newfoundland  in  this  manner,  and 
that  there  they  perched  on  the  mast  of  a  vessel,  because,  it  hav¬ 
ing  been  blessed,  they  dared  not  enter  it ;  and  that  thence  they 
threw  powders  to  poison  the  fish  which  the  poor  mariners  had 
spread  on  the  beach  to  dry.  Another  witch,  Marie  d’Aspil- 


THE  WITCHES  OF  LABOURD. 


201 


couette,  who  lived  at  Andaye,  said  that  once,  when  at  the  sab¬ 
bath,  she  saw  witches  fly  away  in  troops,  and  that  on  their  re¬ 
turn  two  or  three  hours  after  they  boasted  of  their  feats  at  New¬ 
foundland,  whither  they  had  been  conducted  by  the  devil  in  the 
form  of  a  youth  of  fifteen  years  of  age.  From  numerous  con¬ 
fessions,  it  appears  that  the  favorite  excursion  of  the  witches  of 
Labourd  was  to  Newfoundland. 

The  people  of  Labourd  were  generally  witches  from  their 
childhood,  having  been  introduced  at  a  tender  age  by  their  moth¬ 
er,  or  some  other  woman,  who  undertook  to  act  as  their  marraine, 
and  who  was  sometimes  rewarded  with  a  handful  of  gold  by  the 
evil  one  on  the  presentation  of  a  new  subject.  Others  were  in¬ 
troduced  at  a  more  advanced  age,  and  this  seems  to  have  been 
specially  the  case  with  the  men.  A  native  of  the  t)wn  of  Ne- 
rac,  named  Isaac  de  Queyran,  who  was  twenty-five  years  of  age 
when  he  was  put  on  his  trial,  stated  that  when  he  was  a  boy  be¬ 
tween  ten  and  twelve  years  of  age,  being  then  in  the  service  of 
an  honest  man  near  the  town  of  La  Bastide  d’Armaignac,  he  went 
to  procure  a  light  from  an  old  woman  who  lived  near  the  house 
of  his  master.  As  he  was  taking  a  light  from  her  fire,  the  old 
woman  warned  him  not  to  stir  two  pots  which  were  on  it,  or  he 
would  suffer  for  his  carelessness  ;  for,  she  said,  they  contained 
poisons  which  the  “  grand  master”  had  ordered  her  to  make. 
Seeing  that  he  took  an  interest  in  what  she  said,  she  asked  him 
if  he  would  go  to  the  sabbath  with  her,  “  where  he  would  see 
fine  things.”  The  boy’s  curiosity  was  excited,  and  he  returned 
to  her  in  the  evening,  when,  it  being  nearly  dark,  and  his  scru¬ 
ples  overcome,  she  anointed  one  of  his  wrists  with  a  grease  of 
which  he  could  not  remember  the  nature  or  color,  and  he  was 
immediately  carried  through  the  air,  at  no  great  elevation,  to  the 
spot  where  the  sabbath  was  held,  which  was  about  a  league  from 
La  Bastide.  There  he  saw  a  number  of  men  and  women  dan¬ 
cing  and  screaming,  with  which  he  was  so  much  alarmed,  that 
he  ran  away  home.  Next  day,  as  he  was  going  alone  to  his 
master’s  farm,  he  met  on  the  road  a  man  of  large  stature,  and 
very  dark,  who  told  him  that  a  woman  assured  him  he  (the  boy) 
had  promised  to  go  to  the  sabbath,  and  asked  him  why  he  did  not 
go.  Isaa?,  in  reply,  asked  what  business  it  was  of  his  to  go  there, 
on  which  the  dark  man  said,  “  Stay,  stay,  and  I  will  give  thee 
something  which  will  make  thee  come  !”  and  at  the  same  time  he 
beat  him  with  a  stick  over  the  shoulder  that  he  felt  the  pain  three 
days  after.  Subsequent  to  this,  one  day  as  he  was  passing  over 
the  bridge  of  the  river  near  La  Bastide,  he  again  met  the  dark  man, 


202 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


who  asked  him  if  he  remembered  the  beating  he  had  given  him, 
and  i f  he  would  not  come  with  him,  for  which  purpose  he  appointed 
to  meet  him  the  same  evening  behind  the  mill  near  the  bridge. 
Isaac  went  to  the  place  appointed,  and  there  he  saw  the  dark 
man  come  with  a  great  number  of  people,  and  he  asked  him  if 
he  was  ready  to  go  with  them.  Isaac  asked  where  they  wanted 
to  take  him  ;  upon  which  the  dark  man  took  him  upon  his  shoul¬ 
ders  to  throw  him  into  the  mill-dam  and  drown  him,  “  which  he 
would  have  done,  but  he  cried  out  so  loud,  that  the  people  came 
out  of  the  mill,  on  which  the  dark  man  and  his  followers  disap¬ 
peared.”  Two  days  after,  Isaac  was  keeping  watch  in  his  mas¬ 
ter’s  vineyard  at  night,  when  the  dark  man  suddenly  appeared, 
and  this  time  he  took  hold  of  him  and  carried  him  through  the 
air  over  the  «ands  to  a  lande  near  St.  Justin,  a  distance  of  about 
a  quarter  of  a  league.  There  he  found  more  than  fifty  persons 
dancing  to  the  sound  of  a  tabor  on  which  a  little  black  devil  was 
playing,  who  resembled  a  man  only  in  his  face,  which  was  grim 
and  frightful  to  behold.  Others  were  eating  and  drinking  at  a 
table,  at  the  head  of  which  the  dark  man  took  his  seat.  They 
danced  in  a  circle,  holding  hands,  and  their  backs  turned  inward. 
Thus  they  amused  themselves  till  the  cock  crowed,  and  then  the 
“  grand  master”  told  them  to  go  ;  and  most  of  them  were  carried 
home  through  the  air;  but  Isaac,  living  near,  returned  on  foot. 

Such  were  the  stories  which  suggested  the  fancies  of  a  Callot. 
Isaac  de  Queyran,  having  once  commenced,  went  frequently  to 
the  sabbath,  and  continued  his  intercourse  with  the  dark  man  till 
the  time  of  De  Lancre’s  terrible  mission. 

The  confessions  of  the  witches  of  Labourd  related  chiefly  to 
their  sabbath,  at  which  they  assembled  very  frequently.  The 
ordinary  meetings  were  held  every  Wednesday  and  Friday  night. 
But  besides  these  and  a  number  of  occasional  meetings,  they  had 
general  assemblies  on  a  much  more  extensive  scale,  which  were 
usually  held  at  the  four  grand  annual  festivals  of  the  church. 
The  scenes  enacted  at  these  meetings  resembled  in  their  gene¬ 
ral  features  the  ordinary  descriptions  of 'the  sabbath  in  other 
parts,  but  they  are  described  with  more  minuteness.  The  demon 
who  presided  over  these  meetings  appeared  not  always  in  the 
same  form.  According  to  one  confession,  when  the  watches  ar¬ 
rived,  they  found  a  jug  in  the  middle  of  the  place  of  meeting,  out 
of  which  Satan  rose  in  the  form  of  a  goat,  which  became  imme¬ 
diately  of  a  monstrous  size,  and  then  before  they  separated,  he 
became  small  and  shrunk  again  into  his  old  receptacle.  Others 
said  they  had  seen  him  like  a  great  trunk  of  a  tree,  with  an  ob- 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  DEMON. 


203 


scure  visage,  but  without  arms  or  feet,  seated  on  a  throne.  Some¬ 
times  he  appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  large  black  man,  with  horns, 
and  his  shape  more  or  less  definite.  Some  said  he  had  two 
faces,  one  in  the  right  place,  and  the  other  in  the  part  more  prop¬ 
erly  intended  for  sitting  than  seeing.  According  to  others,  the 
second  face  was  at  the  back  of  his  head.  Sometimes  he  ap¬ 
peared  as  a  dog,  or  as  an  ox.  He  is  represented  as  sitting  on  a 
throne,  more  or  less  richly  ornamented,  and  sometimes  of  gold. 
The  ceremonies  of  worship,  the  feasting,  the  dance,  and  the  license 
which  followed,  are  described  in  all  their  particulars,  in  a  multi¬ 
tude  of  confessions  extorted  by  the  two  commissioners.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  these  confessions,  the  children  were  kept  apart,  and  were 
not  admitted  to  see  what  was  going  on  among  their  elders  until 
they  had  reached  a  certain  aae. 

-r  O 

Jeannette  d’Abadie,  of  Siboro,  whose  confession  has  been  al¬ 
ready  spoken  oi,  described  the  demon  as  a  hideous  dark  man 
with  six  horns  on  his  head,  and  two  faces.  She  saw  there  an 
infinite  number  of  persons,  many  of  whom  she  knew.  She  said 
that  a  man  named  Anduitze  was  employed  at  Siboro  to  give  no¬ 
tice  ol  the  meetings  to  the  sorcerers  of  that  place  ;  and  that  a 
little  blind  musician  of  Siboro  served  as  their  minstrel,  playing 
on  the  tabor  and  flute.  She  saw  sometimes  little  demons  with¬ 
out  arms  amuse  themselves  at  the  sabbaths  with  lighting  a  great 
fire  and  throwing  witches  into  it,  and  afterward  drawing  them 
out  unhurt.  This  was  by  way  of  hardening  them  against  the 
punishment  which  eventually  awaited  their  crimes.  This  per¬ 
son  also  described  the  great  demon  who  presided  as  burning 
himself  to  powder  to  be  distributed  among  them  for  the  purpose 
of  doing  mischief  in  the  world.  She  had  seen  witches  change 
themselves  into  wolves,  dogs,  cats,  and  other  animals,  by  wash¬ 
ing  their  hands  in  a  certain  water  which  they  kept  in  a  pot,  and 
regain  their  natural  form  at  pleasure.  She  said  they  were  un¬ 
conscious  that  their  acts  were  sinful ;  that  they  went  to  church 
as  well  as  to  the  sabbaths  ;  and  that  many  of  the  priests  who 
officiated  at  the  former  accompanied  them  also  to  the  latter,  and 
shared  in  all  their  excesses.  She  had  seen  the  whole  assembly 
at  the  close  of  the  sabbath  proceed  to  the  cemetery  of  St.  Jean 
de  Luz  or  of  Siboro,  to  baptize  toads,  which  were  clothed  in  red 
or  black  velvet,  with  a  bell  at  the  neck,  and  another  to  their 
feet ;  and  she  had  seen  the  dame  of  Martibelsarena  dance  at  the 
sabbath  with  four  toads,  one  dressed  in  black  velvet  with  bells 
at  its  feet,  and  the  other  three  unclothed  ;  the  one  in  clothes  was 
on  her  left  shoulder,  another  sat  on  her  right  shoulder,  and  the 
other  two  perched  like  birds  on  her  wrists ! 


204 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 

Another  girl,  twenty-four  years  of  age,  gave  an  extraordinary 
description  of  the  grand  sabbath.  She  compared  it  to  a  great 
fair,  in  which  some  were  walking  about  in  their  own  shapes, 
while  others  were  transformed  into  dogs,  cats,  asses,  horses,  pigs, 
and  other  animals.  There  were  three  grades  of  assistants  at 
this  ceremony  :  the  children,  who  were  kept  at  a  distance  from 
the  rest,  with  white  twigs  in  their  hands,  tending  on  troops  of 
toads  that  were  at  pasture  by  the  side  of  a  stream  ;  those  who 
were  more  advanced  in  age,  but  were  as  yet  kept  in  a  kind  of 
noviciate,  and  were  allowed  to  see  everything,  but  not  to  partake; 
and  lastly,  those  who  were  allowed  unrestrained  indulgence  in 
all  the  amusements  of  the  meeting.  Of  the  latter  some  appeared 
in  veils,  to  make  the  poorer  sort  think  they  were  princes  and 
great  people,  who  were  ashamed  to  show  their  faces.  She 
pointed  out  one  Esteben  Detzail,  then  in  prison  on  the  same 
charge,  as  the  man  who  usually  held  the  basin  of  anything  but 
holy  water  with  which  the  initiated  were  sprinkled.  She  said 
that  there  were  continually  departures  and  new  arrivals,  and 
you  might  see  them  “fly,  one  into  the  air,  another  toward 
heaven,  another  toward  earth,  and  another  sometimes  toward 
great  fires  that  were  lit  here  and  there,  like  so  many  rockets 
sent  into  the  air,  or  stars  falling  to  the  earth.” 

Many  of  these  witches  gave  extraordinary  accounts  of  the 
manner  in  which  they  mixed  their  poisons  and  charms.  The 
former  were  preserved  in  pots  which  they  buried  underground, 
or  concealed  in  some  very  unfrequented  place.  Some  of  the  ac¬ 
cused,  when  under  examination,  stated  that  one  of  their  chief 
hiding-places  was  on  a  precipitous  cliff  upon  the  coast  near  the 
Spanish  border.  Next  day,  which  was  the  19th  of  July,  1609, 
the  two  commissioners,  with  a  multitude  of  people  on  horse  and 
foot,  sallied  forth  to  the  place  indicated,  but  their  efforts  to  reach 
the  summit  of  the  rock  were  fruitless,  and  the  only  result  of  this 
demonstration  was  to  alarm  the  inhabitants  of  Fontarabia.  Next 
day  they  returned,  and  wera  more  successful  in  climbing,  but 
they  found  that  the  witches  had  carried  their  treasure  away. 

Though  several  witches  in  Labounl  used  a  certain  ointment 
preparatory  to  their  voyage  to  the  sabbath,  yet  this  application 
appears  not  to  have  been  absolutely  necessary,  as  they  often 
transported  themselves  thither  without  it.  This  was  proved  by 
the  fact,  that  some  of  them,  who  were  so  addicted  to  these  prac¬ 
tices  that  they  were  tempted  to  persevere  in  them  even  after 
they  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  their  persecutors,  went  to  the 
sabbaths  from  their  prisons,  where  they  could  obtain  no  unguent. 


THE  PRIESTS  IN  DANGER. 


205 


Several  witnesses  deposed  to  having  met  a  woman  named  Ne- 
cato  at  a  sabbath  on  the  coast  in  the  direction  of  Fontarabia,  at 
the  time  that  she  wTas  known  to  be  in  prison.  On  another  oc¬ 
casion,  six  children  declared  that  they  had  been  taken  to  a  sab¬ 
bath  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain  La  Rhune  by  a  witch  of 
Lrrogne,  named  Marissans  de  Tartas,  who  was  on  that  very 
night  confined  in  prison.  La  Rhune  is  a  lofty  mountain,  its 
base  stretching  into  three  kingdoms,  France,  Navarre,  and  Spain, 
and  its  summit  seems  to  have  been  a  very  favorite  resort  of  the' 
witches  of  these  parts.  Marie  de  la  Parque,  a  girl  of  Andaye 
of  the  age  of  nineteen  or  twenty,  and  several  others,  deposed 
that  they  were  present  at  a  sabbath  held  on  the  top  of  this  moun¬ 
tain,  when  a  woman  named  Domingina  Maletena,  made  a  waoer 
with  another  which  could  leap  farthest,  and  that  Domingina  went 
at  one  leap  from  the  top  of  the  mountain  to  the  sands°  between 
Andaye  and  Fontarabia,  a  distance  of  nearly  two  leagues,  while 
her  rival  dropped  in  the  town  of  Andaye,  before  the  door  of  one 
oi  the  inhabitants.  The  other  witches  flew  in  a  crowd  after 
them  to  adjudge  the  victory. 

The  witches  of  Labourd  were  known  not  only  by  marks  on 
the  body,  but  they  had  generally  a  diminutive  mark  in  the  left 
e} e)  described  as  resembling  a  frog’s  foot.  Our  two  commis¬ 
sioners  had  with  them  a  surgeon  from  Bayonne,  who,  from  his 
extensive  practice  in  examining  witches,  had  attained  to  a  won¬ 
derful  skill  in  discovering  their  marks,  and  a  girl  of  seventeen, 
who  had  an  instinctive  knowledge  of  them;  they  employed  the 
surgeon  to  examine  the  old  women,  while  the  girl  was  employed 
upon  the  younger  members  of  the  sex.  Their  marks  were  dis¬ 
covered  by  pinching  and  pricking  them  with  a  pin. 

We  might  fill  a  volume  with  the  strange  stories  told  by  these 
Basque  witches.  Their  alarm  at  the  arrival  of  De  Lancre  and 
his  companion  was  not  without  reason,  for  within  a  short  time 
the  arrests  were  so  numerous,  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to  pro¬ 
vide  prisons  to  hold  them.  Some  of  the  prisoners  confessed 
that  the  devil  himself  was  terrified,  and  they  said  that  he  had 
made  several  attempts  to  kill  or  bewitch  the  two  commissioners, 
but  that  he  had  found  himself  powerless  against  their  persons 

From  judging  the  lower  orders,  De  Lancre  and  his  companion 
proceeded  to  the  better  class,  and  especially  to  the  priests,  of 
whose  character  in  Labourd  he  gives  us  a  very  low  estimate 
The  first  they  arrested  was  an  old  man,  a  priest  of  Bayonne^ 
who  confessed,  and  was  condemned  to  death.  The  execution 
of  this  man  caused  a  great  sensation  at  Bayonne  and  throuobout 

18  ’  b 


206 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  whole  country  of  Labourtl.  Other  priests  were  accused  and 
placed  under  arrest,  and  the  alarm  was  so  great,  that  many  of  the 
clergy  fled  the  country,  and  others  pretended  vows  to  Notre  Dame 
of  Montserrat,  as  a  pretext  for  absenting  themselves.  The  eager¬ 
ness  of  the  clergy  to  leave  was  construed  into  an  evidence,  or 
at  least  a  ground  for  suspicion,  of  their  guilt.  The  commission¬ 
ers  arrested  seven  of  the  most  notable  in  the  whole  country,  who 
had  charge  of  souls  in  the  best  parishes  of  Labourd,  and  of  these 
two  especially  were  notoriously  criminal,  Migalena,  a  priest  of 
Siboro,  aged  nearly  seventy  years,  and  Master  Pierre  Bocal,  of 
the  same  place,  aged  twenty-seven.  These  were  both  accused 
of  burlesquing  the  ceremonies  of  the  church  in  the  devil’s  satf- 
baths,  in  addition  to  all  the  criminal  and  scoffing  acts  laid  to  the 
charge  of  the  other  witches. .  There  were  twenty-four  witnesses 
who  declared  they  had  seen  Migalena  at  the  sabbaths,  and  sev¬ 
enteen  who  brought  a  similar  charge  against  the  other,  so  that 
they  were  both  convicted  and  executed,  but  they  made  no  con¬ 
fession.  The  other  five  priests,  aware  that  the  date  of  the  com¬ 
mission  of  their  two  judges  was  near  its  expiration,  made  an 
appeal  to  the  bishop  of  Bayonne,  although  they  knew  he  had 
consented  to  the  execution  of  the  two  others.  The  commission 
expired  on  the  first  November,  and  the  commissioners  left  the 
five  .priests  unjudged,  and  they  perhaps  escaped,  to  the  great  re¬ 
gret  of  their  persecutors. 

De  Lancre,  after  filling  the  country  of  Labourd  with  death  and 
consternation,  returned  to  Toulouse.  He  took  so  much  interest 
in  the  subject  of  sorcery,  that  he  soon  after  published  another 
large  quarto  volume  on  the  same  subject,  in  1622,  under  the  title 
of  “  L’incredulite  et  mescreance  du  sortilege  pleinement  convain- 
cue.”  His  fellow-inquisitor,  D’Espaignet,  contented  himself 
with  writing  a  Latin  poem  on  the  witches  of  Labourd,  which  he 
printed  at  the  commencement  of  De  Lancre’s  work,  and  in 
which  he  boasts  of  the  havoc  they  had  made  among  the  follow¬ 
ers  of  Satan. 

Nuper  relicto  Cantabrian  sinu,  datis 
Partim  fug®,  partim  rogo, 

Sagis,  refixoque  ostio  Proserpine 
Regni,  ipsius  peeulium 

Postqnam  auximus,  tnrbse  ut  Charontis  cymbula 
Impar  sceleste  vix  natet, 

Fatalis  urne  dura  movemus  calculos, 

Nigruraque  Theta  prevalet. 

Gaudebam  ab  hac  prorsus  redemptum  me  cruce, 

Sat  jam  retectis  daemoiram 
Versutiis  :  lnrvns,  stryges  deeusseram, 

Dulci  paratusotio. 


MAGIC  IN  SPAIN. 


207 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MAGIC  IN  SPAIN  ;  THE  AUTO-DA-FE  OF  LOGRONO. 

We  may  probably  explain  the  notorious  character  of  the  in¬ 
habitants  of  Labourd  at  this  time  by  supposing  that  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  Basque  provinces  had  retained,  like  the  Welch  in 
England,  a  large  portion  of  the  early  superstitions  of  their  race, 
and  that  these  had  so  much  influence  on  their  minds,  that  under 
a  sudden  excitement  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  were  led  to 
believe  themselves  wi.tches.  This  view  of  die  question  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact,  that  the  Basque  provinces  on  the  other 
side  of  the  border  were  proverbial  throughout  the  southern  pen¬ 
insula  as  the  principal  haunt  of  the  witches  of  Spain.  Messire 
Pierre  de  Lancre  complains  of  the  number  of  sorcerers  who  fled 
from  French  justice  to  seek  refuge  in  Spain  ;  but  they  found 
Spanish  justice  equally  relentless,  for  the  inquisitors  of  the  south 
came  upon  them,  and  seized  upon  all  alike,  Frenchmen  or  Span¬ 
iards,  until  they  had  taken  so  many  prisoners  that  they  were  (to 
use  De  Lancre’s  own  phrase),  fort  einpechcz,  to  know  how  to  deal 
with  them  all. 

Spain  was  always  looked  upon  as  in  some  sort  the  special 
country  of  superstition  ;  in  the  belief  of  the  middle  ages  it  was 
the  cradle  of  sorcery  and  magic.  The  inquisition  was  taking- 
root  in  the  different  provinces  of  the  Spanish  peninsula  during 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  it  found  there  a  rich  har¬ 
vest  among  the  superstitions  of  the  Christians,  and  the  unbelief 
of  the  Moors  and  Jews.  Alfonso  de  Spina,  a  Franciscan  of  Cas¬ 
tile,  where  the  inquisition  was  not  then  established,  wrote,  about 
the  year  1458  or  1460,  a  work  especially  directed  against  here¬ 
tics  and  unbelievers,  in  which  he  gives  a  chapter  on  those  arti¬ 
cles  of  popular  belief  which  were  derived  from  the  ancient  hea¬ 
thendom  of  the  people.  Among  these,  witches,  under  the  name 
of  xurguine  (jurginaj  or  bruxe,  held  a  prominent  place.  But  the 
Spanish  friar  of  the  fifteenth  century,  with  much  more  good  sense 
than  was  shown  in  later  and  more  enlightened  ages,  taught  that 
the  acts  attributed  to  this  class  of  offenders,  such  as  their  power 
of  transporting  themselves  through  the  air  to  distant  localities  in 
an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  their  entering  houses,  and  the 
various  criminal  acts,  which  were  the  object  and  result  of  their 
transit,  their  power  of  transforming  themselves,  &c.,  existed  on- 


203 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


ly  in  the  imagination.  He  believed,  however,  that  the  people 
who  bore  the  character  of  witches  were  deluded  wretches,  whose 
minds  being  prepared  for  his  service,  the  devil  made  use  of  them 
as  instruments  of  evil.  He  tells  us  that  in  his  time  these  offend¬ 
ers  abounded  in  Dauphiny  and  Gascony,  where  they  assembled 
in  great  numbers  by  night  on  a  wild  table-land,  carrying  candles 
with  them  to  worship  Satan,  who  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  boar 
on  a  certain  rock,  popularly  known  by  the  name  Elboch  de  Bi- 
terne,  and  that  many  of  them  had  been  taken  by  the  inquisition 
of  Toulouse  and  burnt.  From  that  time  we  find,  in  Spanish  his¬ 
tory,  the  charge  of  witchcraft  and  sorcery  not  unfrequently 
brought  forward  under  different  forms  and  circumstances,  of  which 
several  remarkable  examples  are  given  by  Llorente  in  his  histo¬ 
ry  of  the  inquisition  in  Spain. 

The  first  auto-da-fe  against  sorcery  appears  to  have  been  that 
of  Calahorra,  in  1507,  when  thirty  women,  charged  before  the 
inquisition  as  witches,  were  burnt.  In  1527,  a  great  number 
of  women  were  accused  in  Navarre  of  the  practice  of  sorcery, 
through  the  information  of  two  girls,  one  of  eleven,  the  other 
only  of  nine  years  old,  who  confessed  before  the  royal  coun¬ 
cil  of  Navarre  that  they  been  received  into  the  sect  of  the  jur- 
ginas ,  and  promised,  on  condition  of  being  pardoned,  to  dis¬ 
cover  all  the  women  who  were  implicated  in  these  practices. 
The  two  children  declared  that  by  inspecting  the  left  eye  of  the 
person  accused,  they  knew  instantly  if  she  were  a  witch  or  not; 
and  having  pointed  out  a  district  where  they  were  numerous,  and 
where  they  held  their  assemblies,  the  council  sent  a  commission¬ 
er  thither  with  them,  attended  by  an  escort  of  fifty  horsemen. 
At  each  village  or  hamlet  they  came  to,  they  confined  the  two  girls 
separately  in  two  houses,  and  brought  all  persons  suspected  of 
witchcraft  in  that  neighborhood  before  them  both  in  succession. 
All  those  women  who  happened  to  be  declared  to  be  witches  by 
both  girls,  were  adjudged  to  be  guilty,  and  were  thrown  into  pris¬ 
on,  where  they  were  soon  forced  to  make  confessions.  They 
declared  that  their  society  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
women  ;  that  on  the  reception  of  a  new  proselyte,  if  she  were 
of  a  marriageable  age,  a  young  man,  well  made  and  robust,  was 
given  to  her  as  a  companion  ;  that  she  was  made  to  deny  her 
Christianity ;  and  that  when  this  ceremony  took  place,  a  black 
goat  appeared  suddenly  in  the  middle  of  a  circle,  and  walked 
round  it  several  times  ;  that  as  soon  as  they  heard  the  hoarse 
voice  of  this  animal,  they  all  began  to  dance,  to  a  noise  which 
resembled  that  of  a  trumpet ;  that  they  next  kissed  the  goat  in 


THE  WITCHES  FOUND  GUILTY. 


209 


the  same  manner  as  has  been  described  in  other  relations  ;  and 
then  they  feasted  on  bread,  wine,  and  cheese;  after  this  was 
done,  their  male  companions  were  changed  into  goats,  and  bore 
them  through  the  air  to  the  place  where  they  Avere  to  work  mis¬ 
chief;  they  said  they  had  poisoned  several  persons  by  the  order 
of  Satan,  and  that  for  this  purpose  he  introduced  them  into  their 
houses  through  the  windows  or  doors.  They  had  general  assem¬ 
blies  the  night  before  Easter,  and  on  the  grand  festivals  of  the 
church,  at  which  they  indulged  in  all  the  excesses  of  the  witch¬ 
es’  sabbath.  We  are  assured  by  the  historian  who  has  recorded 
these  events  (Don  Prudencio  de  Sandoval)  that  the  commission¬ 
er  took  one  of  the  w itches  and  offered  her  pardon  if  she  would 
perform  before  him  the  operation  of  sorcery,  so  as  to  fly  away  in 
his  sight.  To  this  proposal  she  agreed,  and  having  obtained  pos¬ 
session  of  the  box  of  ointment  which  was  found  upon  her  when 
arrested,  she  went  up  into  a  tower  with  the  commissioner,  and 
placed  herself  in  front  of  a  window.  A  number  of  other  per¬ 
sons,  we  are  assured,  were  present.  She  began  by  anointing 
with  her  unguent  the  palm  of  her  left  hand,  her  wrist  and  elbow, 
and  by  rubbing  it  under  her  arm,  and  on  the  groin  and  left  side! 
She  then  said  with  a  loud  voice,  “  Art  thou  there  ?”  All  the 
spectators  heard  a  voice  in  the  air  replying,  “  Yes,  I  am  here.” 
The  woman  then  began  to  descend  the  wall  of  the  tower  with 
her  head  downward,  crawling  on  her  hands  and  feet  like  a  lizard  ; 
and  when  she  was  half  way  down,  she  took  a  start  into  the  air! 
and  flew  away  in  view  of  all  the  spectators,  who  followed  her 
with  their  eyes  till  she  was  no  longer  visible.  The  commission¬ 
er  offered  a  reward  to  anybody  who  would  bring  her  back,  and 
two  days  afterward  she  was  brought  in  by  some  shepherds' who 
had  found  her  in  the  fields.  \\  hen  asked  by  the  commissioner 
why  she  did  not  fly  away  far  enough  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of 
her  pursuers,  she  said  that  “  her  master”  would  not  carry  her 
further  than  three  leagues,  at  which  distance  he  left  her  in  the 
fields  where  the  shepherds  found  her.  The  witches  arrested  on 
this  occasion,  after  being  found  guilty  by  the  secular  judges,  were 
handed  over  to  the  inquisition  of  Estella,  and  there  condemned 
to  be  whipped  and  imprisoned. 

rI  he  moment  the  attention  of  the  inquisition  was  thus  drawn 
to  the  crime  of  sorcery,  the  prevalence  of  this  superstition  in  the 
Basque  provinces  became  notorious;  and  Charles  V.,  rightly 
judging  that  it  was  to  be  attributed  more  to  the  ignorance  of  the 
population  of  those  districts  than  to  any  other  cause,  directed 
that  preachers  should  be  sent  to  instruct  them. 

18* 


210 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


The  first  treatise  in  the  Spanish  language  on  the  subject  of 
sorcery,  by  a  Franciscan  monk  named  Martin  de  Castanaga,  was 
printed  under  approbation  of  the  bishop  of  Calahorra  in  1529. 
About  this  time  the  zeal  of  the  inquisitors  of  Saragossa  was  ex¬ 
cited  by  the  appearance  of  many  witches  who  were  said  to  come 
from  Navarre,  and  to  have  been  sent  by  their  sect  as  missiona¬ 
ries  to  make  disciples  of  the  women  of  Aragon.  This  sudden 
witch  persecution  in  Spain  appears  to  have  had  an  influence  on 
the  fate  of  the  witches  in  Italy.  Pope  Adrian  IV.,  who  was 
raised  to  the  papal  chair  in  1522,  was  a  Spanish  bishop,  and  had 
held  the  office  of  inquisitor-general  in  Spain.  In  the  time  of 
Julius  II.,  who  ruled  the  papal  world  from  1503  to  1513,  a  sect 
of  witches  and  sorcerers  had  been  discovered  in  Lombardy,  who 
were  extremely  numerous,  and  had  their  sabbaths  and  all  the 
other  abominations  of  the  continental  witches.  The  proceed¬ 
ings  against  them  appear  to  have  been  hindered  by  a  dispute  be¬ 
tween  the  inquisitors  and  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  judges 
who  claimed  the  jurisdiction  in  such  cases.  On  the  20th  of 
July,  1523,  Pope  Adrian  issued  a  bull  against  the  crime  of  sor¬ 
cery,  placing  it  in  the  sole  jurisdiction  of  the  inquisitors.  This 
bull  perhaps  gave  the  new  impulse  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
witches  in  Spain 

Of  the  cases  which  followed  during  more  than  a  century,  the 
most  remarkable  was  that  of  the  ciuto-da-fe  at  Logrono  on  the  7th 
and  8th  of  November,  1610,  which  arose  in  some  measure  from 
the  visitation  of  the  French  Basque  province  in  the  preceding 
year.  The  valley  of  Bastan  is  situated  in  Navarre  at  the  foot  of 
the  Pyrenees,  on  the  French  frontier,  and  at  no  great  distance 
from  Labourd.  It  was  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  inquisition 
established  at  Logrono  in  Castile.  The  mass  of  the  population 
of  this  valley  appear  to  have  been  sorcerers,  and  they  held  their 
meetings  or  sabbaths  at  a  place  called  Zugarramurdi.  Their 
practices  were  brought  to  light  in  the  following  manner.  A  little 
girl  from  the  neighboring  French  territory  was  sent  to  board  with 
a  woman  of  Zugarramurdi,  who  was  one  of  the  witches,  and  was 
in  the  habit  of  taking  the  child  with  her  to  their  assemblies — she 
was  as  yet  too  young  to  be  formally  initiated.  After  her  return 
home,  the  child,  having  reached  a  proper  age,  became  a  witch 
at  the  instigation  of  one  of  her  countrywomen,  but  she  subse¬ 
quently  repented,  and  obtained  absolution  from  the  bishop  of 
Bayonne.  She  afterward  went  again  to  reside  at  Zugarramurdi, 
where  meeting  one  day  a  woman  of  the  place  named  Maria  de 
Jurreteguia,  she  told  her  that  she  knew  she  was  a  witch.  When 


THE  WITCHES  OF  BASTAN. 


211 


the  husband  of  Maria  heard  this,  he  loaded  her  with  reproaches, 
and  having  been  confronted  with  the  accused,  she  was  obliged 
to  confess  her  fault.  Maria  was  immediately  carried  before  the 
inquisition  oi  Logrono,  and  she  was  given  to  expect  her  pardon 
in  return  lor  a  full  confession  of  the  practice  of  her  associates. 

Maria  de  Jurreteguia  was  the  wife  of  Estevan  de  Navalcorrea. 
Teniiied  at  the  accusation  of  the  French  girl,  and  the  anger  of 
her  husband,  she  made  a  full  confession  to  the  inquisitors  of 
Logrono',  in  which  she  gave  a  detailed  account  of  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  the  “  sect”  of  sorcerers,  which  was  afterward  con¬ 
firmed  by  the  confessions  of  eighteen  of  her  accomplices,  who 
m  eie  arrested  in  consequence  of  the  information  she  gave.  She 
had  been  a  witch  from  her  infancy,  having  been  introduced  to 
the  witches’ meetings  by  her  maternal  aunts  Maria  and  Juana 
Ghipm.  She  had  recently  left  her  evil  ways,  and  made  a  con¬ 
fession  to  and  received  absolution  from  the  cure  of  Zugarra- 
murdi,  in  consequence  of  which  she  had  been  persecuted  by  the 
evil  and  the  other  witches.  She  said  that  when  her  aunts  took 
her  to  the  sabbath  meetings  they  passed  out  of  the  house  through 
little  holes  in  the  doors,  the  latter  being  locked.  Among  her 
piactices,  she  said  that  she  had  often  deceived  a  priest  who  was 
fond  of  hunting,  by  taking  the  form  of  a  hare,  and  leading  him  a 
long  course.  Miguel  de  Goiburu  was  king  of  the  sorcerers  of 
Zugairamurdi ;  he  said  that  he  was  once  at  a  meeting  af  the  sor¬ 
cerers  in  a  spot  on  the  French  side  of  the  frontier,  at  which 
more  than  five  hundred  persons  were  present,  on  which  one  of 
us  party,  Estefania  de  Tellechea,  exclaimed  in  astonishment, 
esus,  what  a  crowd!”  and  the  whole  scene  disappeared,  and 
the  assembly  separated  in  the  utmost  consternation.  On  another 
occasion,  a  witch  named  Maria  Escain  having  persuadad  a  sail¬ 
or  to  join  their  society,  at  the  first  meeting  which  he  attended, 
he  was  so  astonished  at  the  horrible  figure  of  the  devil,  that  he 
cried  out  involuntarily,  “  Jesus,  how  ugly  he  is  !”  on  which  the 
meeting  broke  up  in  the  same  manner.  His  brother,  Joanes  de 
Goiburu,  confessed  that  he  had  played  on  the  tabor  when  the 
witches  danced  at  the  meetings  ;  and  that  one  day,  having  acci- 
dentally  prolonged  their  meeting  till  after  cock-crow,  his  imp 
disappeared,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Zugarramurdi  on 
foot.  File  wife  of  this  man,  Graciana  de  Barrenechea,  was  their 
queen.  She  told  a  story  oi  her  jealousy  of  another  witch  named 
Maria  Joanes  de  Oria,  because  the  latter  was  too  great  a  favor¬ 
ite  with  the  devil  ;  and  after  succeeding  in  seducing  the  evil  one 
into  an  act  of  infidelity,  she  obtained  his  permission  to  poison  her 


232 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


rival.  Juan  de  Sansin,  tlie  cousin  of  Miguel  tie  Goiburu,  con¬ 
fessed  that  his  office  had  been  to  play  on  the  flute  at  the  sab¬ 
baths.  Martin  de  Yizcay  was  the  overseer  of  the  children  who 
came  to  the  assembly,  and  it  was  his  business  to  keep  them  at  a 
distance,  where  they  could  not  see  what  took  place  between  the 
demon  and  his  victims.  Two  sister's,  Estefania  and  Juana  de 
Tellechea,  confessed  like  the  others  that  they  had  done  much 
injury  to  the  persons  and  properties  of  their  neighbors  who  did 
not  belong  to  their  society.  The  latter  said  that  one  day,  ac¬ 
cording  to  an  ancient  usage  of  the  place,  the  inhabitants  of  Zu- 
garramurdi  assembled  in  the  evening  of  St.  John’s  day  to  elect  a 
king  of  the  Christians  and  a  king  of  the  Moors,  who  were  to 
command  the  two  parties  of  Christians  and  Moors  in  the  sham 
fight  which  took  place  several  times  in  the  year  for  their  amuse¬ 
ment.  It  was  in  the  year  1608,  and  her  husband  was  elected 
king  of  the  Moors.  He  was  not  a  sorcerer,  and  as  he  received 
that  night  the  visits  of  his  neighbors  to  compliment  him  on  his 
mock  dignity,  she  was  obliged  to  remain  at  home  to  do  the  hon¬ 
ors  of  the  house,  and  was  thus  hindered  from  attending  the 
witches’  assembly.  In  spite  of  this  reasonable  excuse,  Juana 
was  condemned  at  the  next  sabbath  to  be  severely  whipped  by 
Juan  de  Echalaz,  a  smith,  who  held  the  office  of  the  devil’s  exe¬ 
cutioner. 

All  the  persons  arrested  on  this  occasion  agreed  in  their  de¬ 
scription  of  the  sabbath,  and  of  the  practices  of  the  witches, 
which  in  their  general  features  bore  a  close  resemblance  to 
those  of  the  witches  of  Labourd.  The  usual  place  of  meeting 
was  known  here,  as  in  Labourd,  by  the  popular  name  of  Aquc- 
larre,  a  Gascon  u'ord,  signifying  the  meadow  of  the  goat.  Their 
ordinary  meetings  were  held  on  the  nights  of  Monday,  Wednes¬ 
day,  and  Friday,  every  week,  but  they  had  grand  feasts  on  the 
principal  holydays  of  the  church,  such  as  Easter,  Pentecost, 
Christmas,  &c.  All  these  feasts  appear  to  have  been  fixed  by 
the  Christian  teachers  at  the  period  of  older  pagan  festivals. 
The  form  ordinarily  assumed  by  the  demon  when  a  new  convert 
was  to  be  received,  was  that  of  a  man  with  a  sad  and  choleric 
countenance,  very  black  and  very  ugly.  He  was  seated  on  a 
lofty  throne,  black  as. ebony,  and  sometimes  gilt,  with  all  the  ac¬ 
cessories  calculated  to  inspire  reverence.  On  his  head  was  a 
crown  of  small  horns,  with  two  larger  ones  behind,  and  another 
larger  one  on  the  forehead  ;  it  was  the  latter  which  gave  a  light 
somewhat  greater  than  that  of  the  moon,  but  less  than  that  of  the 
sun,  which  served  to  illuminate  the  assembly.  His  eyes  were 


TIME  OF  THE  SABBATH. 


213 


large  and  round,  and  terrible  to  look  at ;  his  beard  like  that  of  a 
goat,  and  the  lower  part  of  his  body  had  the  form  of  that  ani¬ 
mal  :  his  feet  and  hands  were  like  those  of  a  man,  except  that 
the  ends  of  his  lingers  were  curved  like  those  of  a  bird  of  prey 
and  ended  in  long  pointed  nails,  and  his  toes  were  like  those  of 
a  goose.  His  voice  bore  some  resemblance  to  the  braying  of 
an'ass,  his  words  being  ill  articulated,  and  in  a  low  and  irregu¬ 
lar  tone. 

Such  was  the  demon  of  the  Basque  superstitions.  His  wor¬ 
ship  was  conducted  with  the  same  forms  and  ceremonies  as  in 
Labourd.  The  hour  of  meeting  was  nine  o’clock  in  the  evening, 
and  the  assembly  generally  broke  up  at  twelve.  After  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  the  demon,  followed  a  travestie  of  the  Christian  mass,  at 
which  the  king  and  queen  of  the  sorcerers  officiated  as  priests. 
After  the  mass  was  finished,  came  the  usual  scene  of  licentious¬ 
ness.  Many  of  their  ceremonies  were  accompanied  with  popu¬ 
lar  rhymes  in  Spanish.  Thus  when  the  witches  and  sorcerers 
were  married  together  after  the  devil’s  mass,  the  devil  said  to 
them  : — 

“  Esta  es  buena  parati, 

Este  parati  lo  toma.” 

And  as  new  sorcerers  arrived  at  the  sabbaths,  the  assembly 
chanted  joyfully  the  couplet : — 

“  Alegremonos  alegremos, 

Glue  gente  nueva  tenemos.” 

After  the  scene  last  alluded  to,  the  tables  were  spread,  and  we 
are  told  that  they  were  always  covered  with  dirty  table-cloths. 
Their  favorite  viands  were  the  flesh  of  men,  women  or  children, 
recently  dead,  whom  they  had  dug  up  from  their  graves,  and  it 
was  generally  the  nearest  relatives  of  the  deceased  who  assisted 
in  preparing  them  for  the  feast.  Little  demons  served  at  table. 
After  the  feast,  they  all  danced  together  in  the  wildest  confusion. 
At  one  of  their  sabbaths  there  was  a  dancing-girl,  who,  to  the 
sound  of  castanets  ( castanuelas ),  made  such  extraordinary  capers, 
that  all  the  witches  were  in  admiration,  and  one  of  them  ex¬ 
claimed,  “  Jesus,  how  she  leaps  !”  on  which  the  whole  scene 
disappeared,  and  the  person  who  had  uttered  the  imprudent  ex¬ 
clamation  was  left  alone  to  find  her  way  home  how  she  could. 
At  the  next  meeting  she  was  severely  beaten  for  her  offence. 

Each  new  witch  had  a  toad  given  to  her,  which  was  her  imp, 
and  always  accompanied  her  to  her  meetings.  From  this  ani¬ 
mal  she  extracted  her  most  deadly  poison.  Before  they  left  the 


214 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


sabbath,  the  demon  preached  to  them  on  the  duties  they  had  con¬ 
tracted  toward  him,  exhorted  him  to  go  and  injure  their  fellow- 
creatures,  and  to  practise  every  kind  of  wickedness,  and  gave 
them  powders  and  liquors  for  poisoning  and  destroying.  He 
often  accompanied  them  himself  when  some  great  evil  was  to  be 
done,  and  to  carry  their  purposes  into  effect  they  changed  them¬ 
selves  into  the  forms  of  vermin,  or  of  animals,  or  birds  of  prey. 
In  these  expeditions,  when  they  took  place  by  night,  the  demon 
carried  the  arm  of  an  unbaptized  infant,  lit  at  the  ends  of  the  fin¬ 
gers  which  served  the  place  of  a  candle  or  torch.  When  they 
entered  people’s  houses  they  threw  a  powder  on  the  faces  of 
the  inmates,  who  were  thrown  thereby  into  so  deep  a  slumber 
that  nothing  could  wake  them,  until  the  witches  were  gone. 
Sometimes  the  demon  opened  the  mouths  of  the  people  in  their 
beds,  and  the  sorcerer  placed  something  on  the  tongue  which 
produced  this  sleep.  The  charm  was  then  accompanied  with 
the  words — 

'•  De  las  mortiferas  aguas 
Dos  tragos  dizen  te  applico, 

Con  quien  los  polvos  de  sagas 
Y  mueras  rabiando  tisico.” 

Sometimes  they  threw  these  powders  on  the  fruits  of  the  field, 
and  produced  hail  which  destroyed  them.  On  these  occasions, 
the  demon  accompanied  them  in  the  form  of  a  husbandman,  and 
when  they  threw  the  powders  they  said,* 

“  Polvos.  polvos, 

Pierda  se  tado, 
dueden  los  nuestros, 

Y  abrasense  otros.” 

When  they  were  not  inclined  to  do  any  of  these  destructive 
injuries,  they  amused  themselves  with  creating  phantoms  which 
they  threw  in  the  way  of  travellers  to  frighten  them. 

Sometimes  the  witches  and  sorcerers  went  from  their  sabbath 
to  attend  a  larger  meeting,  which  was  held  at  Pampeluna,  where 
they  went  to  worship  a  great  demon,  named  Barrabam,  who  was 
higher  in  dignity  than  the  other  devils,  and  his  ceremonies  were 
attended  with  greater  pomp.  They  called  him  “  the  grand  mas¬ 
ter.”  Then  they  went  all  in  a  body  and  passed  over  the  frontier 
into  France,  where  they  met  other  troops  of  sorcerers,  and  they 
were  then  so  numerous  that  one  of  the  deponents  said  that  when 
the  assembly  broke  up,  the  sky  was  completely  clouded  with 
the  troops  of  witches  flying  away  in  all  directions. 

*  These  rhymes  are  taken  from  the  report  of  this  transaction  given  in  De  Lan- 
cre  ;  they  bear  a  singular  resemblance  in  general  character  to  those  of  the  Scottish 
witches  that  will  be  given  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  SPANISH  DOCTORS. 


215 


The  toad  acted  a  very  important  part  in  the  witchcraft  of  the 
Basque  provinces.  When  the  new  witcli  was  presented  to  the 
meeting  for  the  first  time,  the  toad  was  given  into  the  care  of  her 
marraine,  until  the  convert  had  completed  her  noviciate,  and  was 
considered  lit  to  receive  it  into  her  own  keeping.  It  was  dressed 
in  a  little  sack,  with  a  capuchin  or  cowl,  through  which  the  head 
passed,  and  open  under  the  belly,  where  it  was  tied  with  a  band, 
which  served  as  a  girdle  ;  this  vest  was  generally  made  of  green 
or  black  cloth,  or  velvet.  It  was  to  be  taken  great  care  of,  and 
to  be  often  fed  and  caressed.  It  was  one  of  its  duties  to  keep 
its  mistress  or  master  in  mind  of  the  time  for  attending  the  sab¬ 
bath,  and  to  wake  him  at  the  necessary  time  if  he  should  be 
asleep.  The  toad  also  furnished  the  liquor  with  which  the 
witches  rubbed  different  parts  of  their  bodies  when  they  were 
preparing  to  go  to  their  assemblies,  and  by  which  they  were 
enabled  to  fly  through  the  air,  carrying  the  reptile  with  them. 
Sometimes  the  sorcerer  travelled  thither  on  foot,  and  then  the 
toad  preceded,  taking  large  leaps,  and  they  passed  over  immense 
distances  in  a  few  minutes,  as  when  they  fled  through  the  air. 
If  the  meeting  were  accidentally  prolonged  till  after  cock-crow, 
the  toad  disappeared  ;  and  the  sorcerer  found  himself  reduced  to 
his  natural  powers  ;  but  the  animal  itself  soon  reappeared  in  the 
place  where  it  was  usually  kept. 

The  witches  among  themselves  enjoyed  different  degrees  of 
rank  and  estimation,  according  to  their  intimacy  with  the  evil 
one,  and  their  zeal  and  aptitude  to  work  mischief.  It  was  to 
those  only  whom  he  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  that  Satan  im¬ 
parted  the  more  deadly  poisons,  and  he  often  assisted  in  person 
at  their  composition. 

The  auto-da-fe  of  Logroho,  as  far  as  it  related  to  the  sect  of 
the  sorcerers  of  Zugarramurdi,  caused  a  great  sensation,  and 
brought  the  subject  of  witchcraft  under  the  consideration  of  the 
Spanish  theologians.  These  were  so  far  more  enlightened  than 
the  body  of  their  contemporaries  in  other  countries,  that  they 
generally  leaned  to  the  opinion  that  witchcraft  was  a  mere  de¬ 
lusion,  and  that  the  details  of  the  confessions  of  the  miserable 
creatures  who  were  its  victims  were  all  creations  of  the  imagi¬ 
nation.  They  were  punished  because  their  belief  was  a  heresy, 
contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  the  church.  Llox-ente  gives  the  ab¬ 
stract  of  a  treatise  on  this  subject  by  a  Spanish  ecclesiastic 
named  Pedro  de  Valentia,  addressed  to  the  grand  inquisitor  in 
consequence  of  the  trial  at  Logrono  in  1610,  and  which  remained 
in  manuscript  among  the  archives  of  the  inquisition.  This  writer 


21 6 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


adopts  entirely  the  opinion  that  the  acts  confessed  by  the  witches 
were  imaginary ;  he  attributes  them  partly  to  the  method  in 
which  the  examinations  were  carried  on,  and  to  the  desire  of  the 
ignorant  people  examined  to  escape  by  saying  what  seemed  to 
please  their  persecutors,  and  partly  to  the  effects  of  the  ointments 
and  draughts  which  they  had  been  taught  to  use,  and  which  were 
composed  of  ingredients  that  produced  sleep,  and.acted  upon  the 
imagination  and  the  mental  faculties.* 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ADVENTURES  OF  DOCTOR  TORRALVA. 

Spain  had  not  in  the  sixteenth  century  ceased  to  be  celebrated 
for  its  magicians,  as  we  learn  from  a  variety  of  allusions  in  wri¬ 
ters  of  that  and  the  subsequent  periods.  We  have  seen  that  it 
was  then  the  country  from  which  magical  rings  were  procured, 
and  that  it  was  equally  with  other  lands  the  scene  of  treasure¬ 
hunting  and  of  witchcraft.  Nor  was  it  wanting  in  great  magi¬ 
cians.  One  of  these  gave  considerable  celebrity  to  the  village 
of  Bargota,  near  Viana,  in  the  diocese  of  Calahorra.  The  cure  of 
Bargota,  who  is  well  known  to  every  reader  of  the  glorious  ro¬ 
mance  of  Cervantes,  astonished  the  territories  of  Rioja  and  Na- 
A'arre  by  his  extraordinary  feats.  Among  other  exploits  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  transporting  himself  to  distant  countries,  and  re¬ 
turning  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time.  In  this  way  he 
witnessed  most  of  the  remarkable  occurrences  of  the  wars  in 
Italy  at  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  which 
Spain  had  a  special  interest,  and  he  announced  his  intelligence 
the  same  day  at  Viana  and  Logrono.  He  was  forewarned  of 
each  event  by  the  demon,  his  familiar.  The  latter  told  him  one 
day  that  the  pope  would  that  night  die  a  violent  death.  It  ap¬ 
pears  that  his  holiness  had  an  intrigue  with  a  lady  whose  hus¬ 
band  held  a  high  office  in  the  papal  court.  The  latter  was 
afraid  to  complain  openly,  but  he  was  none  the  less  eager  for 
revenge,  and  he  joined  with  some  desperate  ruffians  in  a  plot  to 
take  away  the  pope’s  life.  The  demon  was  of  course  rejoiced 
at  the  prospect  of  evil,  but  his  frierrd  the  cure  determined  to 

*  On  this  subject  the  reader  is  referred  to  Salverte’s  Philosophy  of  Magic,  by 
W.  Thomson,  vol  ii.,  chapters  1  and  2.  8vo.  Bentley,  1846. 


DOCTOR  TORRALVA. 


217 


cheat  him  and  save  the  head  of  the  church  from  the  danger 
which  threatened  him.  He  pretended  to  be  seized  with  &an 
eager  desire  to  proceed  to  Rome,  that  he  might  hear  the  rumors 
to  which  such  a  remarkable  occurrence  must  give  rise,  and  to 
witness  the  pope’s  funeral.  The  desire  was  no  sooner  expressed 
than  it  was  gratified.  On  his  arrival  at  the  eternal  city,  the  cure 
hastened  to  the  papal  palace,  forced  his  way  into  the  presence 
oi  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and  told  him  the  whole  particulars  of 
the  plot  against  his  life,  and  thus  defeated  the  designs  of  the  con¬ 
spirators  After  having  thus  outwitted  him,  the  cure  wished  to 
have  no  further  intercourse  with  Satan  ;  he  made  a  voluntary 
confession  to  the  pope,  and  in  return  for  the  signal  service  he 
had  performed,  his  holiness  gave  him  a  full  absolution.  On  his 
return,  he  was  delivered,  as  a  matter  of  form,  into  the  custody 
ol  the  inquisitors  of  Logrono,  but  he  was  acquitted,  and  restored 
to  his  liberty. 

There  li\ed  at  the  same  time  a  magician  who  gained  far 
greater  celebrity  than  the  cure  of  Bargota,  and  who  adopted  the 
same  extraordinary  mode  of  travelling.  This  was  Doctor  Eu¬ 
genio  Torralva,  a  physician  in  the  family  of  the  admiral  of  Cas¬ 
tile.*  T orralva  was  born  at  Cuenqa,  but  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
was  sent  to  Rome,  where  he  became  attached  to  the  bishop  of 
Voltena,  Fiancesco  Soderini,  in  the  quality  of  a  page.  He  now 
pursued  with  great  earnestness  the  study  of  philosophy  and  med¬ 
icine,  under  Don  Cipion  and  the  masters  Mariana,  Avanselo, 
and  Maguera,  until  he  obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  in  medicine. 
Undei  these  teachers,  1  orralva  learned  to  have  doubts  of  the  im¬ 
mortality  ot  the  soul  and  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  made  great 
advances  in  skepticism.  About  the  year  1501,  when  he  was 
already  a  practitioner  in  medicine  at  Rome,  he  formed  a  very  inti¬ 
mate  acquaintance  with  one  Master  Alfonso,  a  man  who  had  first 
quitted  the  Jewish  faith  for  Mohammedanism,  from  which  he  had 
been  converted  to  Christianity,  and  he  had  then  finally  adopted 
natural  religion  or  deism.  This  man’s  discourses  overthrew  the 
little  faith  that  still  remained  in  Torralva’s  mind,  and  he  became 
a  confirmed  skeptic,  although  he  appears  to  have  concealed  his 
opinions  Irom  the  world,  and  perhaps  he  subsequently  renounced 
them. 


*  Torralva,  un  grande  hombre,  y  nigromante, 

Medico,  y  familiar  del  admirante. 

rpi  „  ,,  ..  r  Luis  Capata,  Caklo  Famoso,  canto  xxviii. 

t  i.  .  au  ,onf,y  for  t*!®  details  of  the  history  of  this  extraordinary  personage  is 
Llorente,  who  derived  his  information  from  the  original  papers  relating  to  his  trial, 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  inquisition.  Part  of  the  story  is  told  rather  differ¬ 
ently  in  the  metrical  history  of  Capata. 


19 


218 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Among  Torralva’s  friends  at  Rome  was  a  Dominican  monk, 
called  Brother  Pietro,  who  told  him  one  day  that  he  had  in  his 
service  “  an  angel  of  the  order  of  good  spirits,”  named  Zequiel, 
who  was  so  powerful  in  the  knowledge  of  the  future  and  of  hid¬ 
den  things  that  he  was  without  his  equal  in  the  spiritual  world, 
and  of  such  a  peculiar  temper  that,  while  other  spirits  made  bar¬ 
gains  with  their  employers  before  they  would  give  them  their 
services,  Zequiel  was  so  disinterested  that  he  despised  all  con¬ 
siderations  of  this  kind,  and  served  only  in  friendship  those  who 
placed  their  confidence  in  him  and  deserved  his  attachment. 
The  least  attempt  at  restraint,  Brother  Pietro  said,  would  drive 
him  away  for  ever. 

Torralva’s  curiosity  was  excited,  and  when  Brother  Pietro 
generously  proposed  to  resign  the  familiar  spirit  to  his  friend, 
the  offer  was  eagerly  accepted.  It  appears  that  the  person  most 
concerned  in  this  transaction  made  no  objection  to  the  change 
of  masters,  and  at  the  summons  of  brother  Pietro,  Zequiel  made 
his  appearance,  in  the  form  of  a  fair  young  man,  with  light  hair, 
and  dressed  in  a  flesh-colored  habit  and  black  surtout.  He  ad¬ 
dressed  himself  to  Torralva,  and  said,  “  I  will  be  yours  as  long 
as  you  live,  and  will  follow  you  wherever  you  are  obliged  to  go.” 
From  this  time  Zequiel  appeared  to  Torralva  at  every  change 
of  the  moon,  and  as  often  as  the  physician  wanted  his  services, 
which  was  generally  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  him  in  a 
short  space  of  time  to  distant  places.  In  these  interviews,  the 
spirit  took  sometimes  the  semblance  of  a  traveller,  and  some¬ 
times  that  of  a  hermit.  In  his  intercourse  with  Torralva,  he  said 
nothing  contrary  to  Christianity,  but  accompanied  him  to  church, 
and  never  counselled  him  to  evil ;  from  which  circumstances 
the  physician  concluded  that  his  familiar  was  a  good  angel.  He 
always  conversed  in  the  Latin  or  Italian  language. 

Rome  had  now  become  to  Torralva  a  second  country  ;  but 
about  the  year  1502  he  went  to  Spain,  and  subsequently  he  trav¬ 
elled  through  most  parts  of  Italy,  until  he  again  fixed  himself  at 
Rome,  under  the  protection  of  Iii s  old  patron  the  bishop  of  Vol- 
terra,  who  had  been  made  a  cardinal  on  the  31st  of  May,  1503. 
With  this  introduction  he  soon  obtained  the  favor  of  others  of 
the  cardinals,  and  rose  to  high  repute  for  his  skill  in  medicine.. 
Having  met  at  this  time  with  so'me  books  on  chiromancy,  he 
became  an  eager  student  in  that  art,  in  the  knowledge  of  which 
he  subsequently  surpassed  most  of  his  contemporaries.  Tor¬ 
ralva  owed  his  medical  knowledge  partly  to  his  familiar,  who 
taught  him  the  secret  virtues  of  many  plants,  with  which  other 


TORRALVA  AND  ZEQUIEL.  219 

physicians  were  not  acquainted  ;  and  when  the  practitioner  took 
exorbitant  fees,  Zequiel  rebuked  him.  telling  him  that,  since  he 
had  received  his  knowledge  for  nothing,  he  ought  to  impart  it 
giatuitously.  And  tfhen  on  several  occasions  Torralva  was  in 
want  of  money,  he  found  a  supply  in  his  chamber,  which  he  be¬ 
lieved  was  furnished  him  by  the  good  spirit,  who,  however 
Would  never  acknowledge  that  he  was  the  secret  benefactor  who 
iiacl  relisved  him  lrom  his  embarrassment. 

Torralva  returned  to  Spain  in  1510,  and  lived  for  some  time 
at  the  court  of  Ferdinand  the  catholic.  One  day  Zequiel,  whose 
informations  were  usually  of  a  political  character,  told  him  that 
the  king  would  soon  receive  disagreeable  news.  Torralva  im¬ 
mediately  communicated  this  piece  of  information  to  Ximenes 
c  e  isneros,  archbishop  of  Toledo  (who  was  subsequently  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  cardinal,  and  made  inquisitor  general  of  Spain), 
and  the  grand  captain  Gonzalo  Fernandez  de  Cordova.  The 
same  day  a  courier  arrived  with  despatches  from  Africa  con- 
taming  intelligence  of  the  ill  success  of  the  expedition  against 
he  Moors  and  of  the  death  of  Don  Garcia  de  Toledo,  son  of 
tne  Duke  ol  Alva,  who  commanded  it. 

Torralva  seems  to  have  matle  no  secret  of  his  intercourse 
wu  Zequiel.  He  had  received  his  familiar  from  a  monk,  and 
tne  spirit  is  said  to  have  shown  himself  to  the  cardinal  of  Vol- 
terra  at  the  physician’s  wish  ;  the  latter  now  did  not  hesitate  to 
acquaint  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  and  the  grand  captain  how 
lie  came  by  his  early  intelligence.  The  archbishop  earnestly 
desired  to  be  permitted  to  have  the  same  privilege  as  the -Italian 
cardinal,  and  Torralva  wished  to  gratify  him,  but  Zequiel  re¬ 
fused,  though  he  softened  his  refusal  by  telling  him  to  inform  the 
archbishop  that  he  would  one  day  be  a  king,  a  prophecy  which 
was  believed  to  be  fulfilled  when  he  was  made  absolute  gov¬ 
ernor  of  Spam  and  the  Indies.  .  10 

The  physician  was  frequently  favored  with  revelations  of  this 
kind  On  one  occasion,  when  Torralva  was  at  Rome,  Zequiel 
told  him  that  his  friend,  Pietro  Margano,  would  lose  his  life  if  he 
went  out  of  the  city  that  day.  He  was  not  able  to  see  him  in 
order  to  warn  him  of  his  danger,  and  Pietro  went  out  of  Rome 
and  was  assassinated.  Zequiel  told  him  on  another  occasion 
that  the  cardinal  of  Sienna  would  end  his  life  in  a  tragical  man¬ 
ner,  which  was  verified  in  1517,  after  the  judgment  of  Pope  Leo 
/.,  against  him.  Torralva  re-efetablished  himself  in  Rome  in 
1513,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  he  had  a  great  desire  to  see  his 
intimate  friend,  Thomas  de  Becara,  who  was  then  at  Venice; 


220 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


upon  which  Zequiel  took  him  thither  and  back  in  so  short  a  space 
of'  time  that  his  absence  was  not  perceived  by  his  friends  at 
Rome. 

It  was  not  long  before  he  again  returned  to  Spain,  where,  about 
the  year  1516,  the  cardinal  of  Santa  Cruz,  Don  Bernardino  de  Car¬ 
bajal,  consulted  him  on  a  subject  of  some  importance.  A  Spanish 
lady  named  Rosales  had  complained  to  Don  Bernardino  that  her 
nights  were  disturbed  by  a  phantom  which  appeared  in  the  form 
of  a  murdered  man.  The  cardinal  had  sent  his  physician,  Dr. 
Morales,  who  watched  at  night  with  the  lady,  but  saw  no  appa¬ 
rition,  although  she  gave  him  notice  of  its  appearance,  and  point¬ 
ed  out  the  place  where  it  stood.  Don  Bernardino  hoped  to  know 
more  of  the  matter  by  the  means  of  Torralva,  and  he  requested 
him  to  go  with  the  physician  Morales  to  pass  the  night  in  the 
lady’s  house.  They  went  together  and  an  hour  after  midnight 
they  heard  the  lady’s  cry  of  alarm,  and  went  into  her  room, 
where,  as  before,  Morales  saw  nothing.  But  Torralva,  who  was 
better  acquainted  with  the  spiritual  world,  perceived  a  figure  re¬ 
sembling  a  dead  man,  behind  which  appeared  another  apparition 
in  the  form  of  a  woman.  He  asked  with  a  firm  voice,  “  What 
dost  thou  seek  here  ?”  to  which  the  apparition  replied,  “  A  treas¬ 
ure,”  and  immediately  disappeared.  Torralva  consulted  Zequiel 
on  this  subject,  and  was  informed  that  there  was  buried  under  the 
house  a  corpse  of  a  man  who  had  been  stabbed  to  death  with  a 
poignard. 

Torralva  was  soon  at  Rome  again,  and  among  his  more  inti¬ 
mate  friends,  there  was  Don  Diego  <]e  Zuniga,  a  relative  of  the 
duke  of  Bejar,  and  brother  to  Don  Antonio,  grand  prior  of  the 
order  of  St.  John,  in  Castile.  In  1519,  the  two  friends  returned 
to  Spain  together.  On  their  way,  at  Barcelonetta  near  Turin, 
while  they  were  walking  and  conversing  with  the  secretary  Aze- 
vedo  (who  had  been  adjutant-general  of  the  Spanish  armies  in 
Italy  and  Savoy),  Azevedo  and  Zuniga  thought  they  saw  some- 
thin 'indefinable  pass  by  Torralva’s  side.  He  told  them  it  was 
his  angel  Zequiel,  who  had  approached  him  to  whisper  in  his 
ear.  Zuniga  had  a  great  desire  to  see  Zequiel,  but  Torralva 
could  not  prevail  with  the  latter  to  show  himself.  At  Barcelona, 
Torralva  saw  in  the  house  of  the  canon,  Juan  Garcia,  a  hook  of 
chiromancy,  and  in  the  margin  of  one  of  the  leaves  was  written 
a  magical  process  to  enable  a  person  to  gain  money  at  play. 
Zunigat  who  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  no  very  exalted  mo¬ 
rality,  wished  to  make  himself  master  of  this  art,  and  Torralva 
copied  the  characters,  and  told  his  friend  that  he  must  write  them 


TORRALVA’S  VOYAGE  TO  ROME. 


221 


with  his  own  hand  on  paper,  using  for  ink  the  blood  of  a  bat,  and 
that  the  writing  must  be  performed  on  a  Wednesday,  because  that 
day  was  dedicated  to  Mercury.  This  charm  he  was  to  wear  on 
his  person  when  at  play. 

,  i  ^orra^va^?nt  again  to  Rome.  Being  at  Valladolid, 
ne  told  Diego  de  Zuniga  of  his  intentions,  informing  him  that  he 
had  the  means  of  travelling  there  with  extraordinary  rapidity 
that  he  had  but  to  place  himself  astride  on  a  stick,  and  he  was 
earned  through  the  air,  guided  by  a  cloud  of  fire.  On  his  arri¬ 
val  at  Rome,  he  saw  the  cardinal  of  Volterra  and  the  grand  prior 
of  the  order  of  St.  John,  who  were  very  earnest  with  him  that 
he  should  give  them  his  familiar  spirit.  Torralva  entreated  Ze- 
quiel  to  comply  with  their  wish,  but  in  vain.  Tn  1525,  Zequiel 
reefimmended  him  to  return  to  Spain,  assuring  him  that  he  would 
obtain  the  place  of  physician  to  the  infanta  Eleanora,  queen  dow¬ 
ager  ot  Portugal,  and  subsequently  consort  to  Francois  I.,  of 
France.  Torralva  obeyed  the  suggestion  of  his  monitor,  and'ob- 
tained  the  promised  appointment. 

It  was  after  his  return  to  Spain,  and  before  he  obtained  this 
appointment,  that  a  circumstance  occurred  which  added  greatly 
to  Torralva’s  celebrity.  On  the  evening  of  the  fifth  of  May,  of 
the  year  last  mentioned  (1525),  the  physician  received  a  visit 
from  Zequiel,  who  told  him  that  Rome  would  be  taken  next  day 
by  the  troops  of  the  emperor,*  and  Torralva  desired  to  be  taken 
to  Rome  to  see  this  important  event.  They  left  Valladolid  to- 


*,  CaVpPa’  7,'°1"'VeS  ac<lou”t  of  tllis  voyaa-e  according  to  the  popular  tradition, 
makes  lorralva  leave  the  admiral’s  town  ot  Medina  de  Rioseco  instead  of  Valla- 
dohd.  He  says  that  Torralva  was  sitting  pensive  and  sad  in  his  chamber  contem¬ 
plating  the  sky,  when  Zequiel  appeared  to  him,  who  is  described  thus  : _ 


“  Zaqueil  ud  familiar,  qu’en  la  figura 
De  un  viejo  sano  ant’el  se  aparescia. 

Con  un  bordon,  y  en  cuerpo  en  veslidura 
Blanca  que  hasta  el  suelo  le  cubria  ; 

Y  con  la  barba  blanca  a  la  cintura, 

Como  assi  tan  pensoso  estar  le  via, 

En  la  cerrada  piega  en  este  instaute 
Se  aparescio  Torralva  nigromante.” 

Carlo  Famoso,  cant.  xxx. 

Zequiel  asked  him  why  he  was  pensive,  to  which  he  replied  that  he  was  puzzled 
with  the  stars.  The  familiar  then  informed  him  that  the  coustable  of  Bourbon  was 
before  Rome,  which  would  be  taken  next  day. 

“  Havra  sangre  y  crueldad  en  abundancia, 

De  que  yo  espero  haver  muy  grand  ganaucia.” 

Capata  imagined  that  the  familiar  might  be  a  demon,  and  that  he  would  natural¬ 
ly  delight  in  the  horrors  which  attended  the  sack  of  Rome. 

19* 


222 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


gether  at  eleven  o’clock  at  nigl.t,  on  foot,  as  if  to  take  a  walk  ; 
but.  at  a  short  distance  from  the  town  Zequiel  gave  his  compan¬ 
ion  a  stick  full  of  knots,  and  said,  “  Shut  your  eyes,  and  fear 
nothing ;  take  this  in  your  hand,  and  no  harm  will  happen  to 
you.”  After  a  little  time,  at  Zequiel’s  bidding,  Torralva  opened 
his  eyes,  and  he  found  himself  so  near  the  sea  that  he  could  have 
touched  the  water  with  his  hand  ;  and  the  black  cloud  which  had 
previously  enveloped  him  gave  place  immediately  to  so  bright  a 
light,  that  he  was  afraid  of  being  burnt.  Zequiel  saw  his  alarm, 
and  rebuked  him  for  it  in  a  familiar  phrase,  “  No  temas,  bcstia 
Jiera /”  (fear  nothing,  stupid  fellow).  Torralva  then  shut  his 
eyes  again,  and  after  a  while  felt  himself  on  the  solid  ground,  and 
heard  his  companion  bid  him  open  his  eyes,  and  see  if  he  knew 
where  he  was.  He  recognised  the  city  of  Rome  spread  out  be¬ 
fore  him,  and  knew  that  he  was  standing  on  the  tower  of  Nona. 
The  clock  of  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  was  just  striking  the  hour 
of  midnight,  so  that  they  had  been  exactly  one  hour  on  their  jour¬ 
ney.  The  city  was  shrouded  in  night,  and  they  waited  till  day¬ 
break,  when  they  passed  through  the  different  parts  of  the  city, 
and  witnessed  the  events  of  that  terrible  day,  the  attack  of  the 
besiegers,  the  death  of  the  constable  of  Bourbon,  the  flight  of 
the  pope  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  the  terror  and  slaughter 
of  the  citizens,  the  pollution  of  the  churches,  and  the  wild  riot 
of  the  conquerors.  It  took  them  an  hour  and  a  half  to  return  to 
Valladolid,  and  when  Zequiel  left  the  doctor  there,  he  said  to 
him,  “  In  future  you  will  believe  all  I  tell  you.”  Torralva  imme¬ 
diately  made  public  all  he  had  seen  during  this  extraordinary  ex¬ 
cursion,  and  when  in  due  course  of  time  news  arrived  of  the  cap¬ 
ture  and  sack  of  Rome,  the  court  of  Spain  was  filled  with  aston¬ 
ishment. 

Torralva’s  fame  as  a  magician  was  now  in  everybody’s  mouth, 
and  it  seems  that  men  of  high  rank,  in  both  church  and  state, 
had  been  cognizant  of,  if  not  accomplices  in,  his  practices  of  for¬ 
bidden  arts.  It  was  at  length  by  one  of  his  intimate  friends  that 
he  was  denounced  to  the  inquisitors,  who  would  perhaps  have 
taken  no  notice  of  him  had  they  not  been  urged  to  the  pursuit. 
Diego  de  Zuniga,  the  same  who  had  been  so  long  a  confidant  in 
his  intercourse  with  the  familiar,  and  who  had  even  benefited  by 
his  arts  to  profit  at  the  gambling-table,  had  suddenly  become  fa¬ 
natical  and  superstitious.  Not  satisfied  with  repentance  for  his 
own  sins,  Zuniga  denounced  Torralva  to  the  inquisition  of  Cuen- 
qa,  and  when  the  doctor  visited  that  city  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1528,  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison.  He  imme- 


TORRALVA  BEFORE  THE  INQUISITION.  223 

diately  confessed  all  his  dealings  with  Zequiel,  whom  he  per- 
srsted  in  regarding  as  a  good  angel,  and  made  no  less  than  seven 
written  declarations,  the  same  in  effect,  but  contradicting  each 
otiiei  in  some  of  the  particulars.  As  these  seem  to  have  been 
thought  not  to  be  entirely  satisfactory,  Torralva  was  put  to  the 
torture,  the  result  of'which  was  that  he  declared  himself  con¬ 
vinced  that  Zequiel  was  a  demon.  He  said  that  his  familiar  had 
warned  him  that  a  danger  hung  over  him  if  he  went  to  Cuenca 
at  that  time,  but  that  he  had  disregarded  the  admonition. 

I  he  inquisitors  now  changed  their  severity  to  indulgence,  and 
on  the  6th  of  March,  1529,  they  suspended  Torralva’s  process  for 
a  \  ear.  But  before  the  expiration  of  that  period,  a  new  accuser 
presented  himself,  and  deposed  to  his  disputes  at  Rome,  in  his 
younger  days  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  placed  the  question  in  a  new  light,  and  Tor¬ 
ralva  underwent  examination  again  on  the  29th  of  January,  1530, 
when  he  made  a  new  declaration  on  the  subject  of  his  early  ed¬ 
ucation  and  opinions.  The  case  now  assumed  a  still  more  se¬ 
rious  character,  and  the  inquisitors  of  Cuenca  having  communi¬ 
cated  with  the  supreme  council  of  the  inquisition  in  Spain,  re¬ 
ceived  directions  to  appoint  some  pious  and  learned  persons  to 
labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  accused,  and  to  persuade  him  to 
renounce,  sincerely  and  absolutely,  the  science  of  chiromancy, 
Ins  intercourse  with  Zequiel,  and  all  treaties  he  might  have  en¬ 
tered  into  with  the  evil  one,  for  the  unburdening  of  his  con¬ 
science  and  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  The  inquisitors  intrusted 
this  task  to  Brother  Augustino  Barragan,  prior  of  the  convent 
of  Dominicans  at  Cuenca,  and  Diego  Manriques,  a  canon  of  the 
cathedral,  and  these  men  labored  with  so  much  zeal  and  effect, 
that  1  orralva  agreed  to  do  everything  they  wished,  except  that 
he  would  not  undertake  to  see  Zequiel  no  more.  For  it  appears 
that  the  familiar  remained  so  far  faithful  to  his  original  promise, 
that  he  continued  to  visit  Torralva  in  the  prison  of  the  inquisi¬ 
tion,  and  the  doctor  represented  to  his  converters  that  he  was 
obliged  to  see  him  whether  he  would  or  not.  The  inquisitors 
themselves  were  so  credulous,  that  they  requested  their  prisoner 
to  inquire  of  Zequiel  what  was  his  opinion  of  the  doctrines  of 
Luther  and  Erasmus  ;  and  they  were  gratified  beyond  measure 
when  they  learned  that  he  condemned  the  two  reformers,  with 
this  difference  only,  that  he  considered  Luther  to  be  a  bad  man, 
while  he  represented  Erasmqs  as  his  superior  in  cunning  and 
cleverness.  Perhaps  this  piece  of  information  brought  Torralva 
a  little  into  lavor,  and  his  treatment  was  not  so  rigorous  as  that 


224 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


experienced  by  many  at  the  hands  of  the  same  prosecutors.  On 
the  6th  of  March,  1531,  he  was  condemned  to  make  the  general 
ordinary  abjuration  of  heresies,  to  undergo  the  punishment  of 
imprisonment  and  the  san  benito  as  long  as  it  might  please  the 
inquisitor-general,  to  undertake  to  have  no  further  communication 
with  the  spirit  Zequiel,  and  never  to  lend  an  ear  to  any  of  his 
proposals. 

Although  Torralva  had  been  betrayed  by  one  friend,  he  had 
others  who  remained  faithful  to  him.  Before  his  celebrated  jour¬ 
ney  to  Rome,  in  1525,  he  had  been  appointed  to  the  office  of 
physician  to  the  family  of  the  admiral  of  Castile,  Don  Frederico 
Enriquez,  which  he  still  held  at  the  time  of  his  arrest.  The  ad¬ 
miral  had  always  proved  himself  a  warm  friend  and  a  stanch 
protector ;  he  did  not  desert  him  in  his  trials,  and  it  was  no  doubt 
to  his  influential  interference  that  Torralva  owed  what  indulgence 
was  shown  to  him  during  his  imprisonment.  We  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  through  his  protection  also  that  soon 
after  the  process  was  ended,  the  inquisitor-general  gave  Torralva 
his  pardon,  and  set  him  at  liberty,  in  consequence,  as  it  was  pre¬ 
tended,  of  his  sincere  repentance.  The  admiral  received  the 
magician  again  as  his  physician,  and  continued  his  favor  and 
protection  to  him. 

Such  is  the  history,  taken  entirely  from  his  own  declarations 
and  confessions,  of  a  magician  whose  fame  has  been  immortal¬ 
ized  in  Don  Quixotte. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

TRIAL  OF  THE  EARL  AND  COUNTESS  OF  SOMERSET. 

The  story  of  Doctor  Torralva  has  drawn  us  a  little  from  the 
chronological  order  of  our  chapters.  The  wholesale  persecu¬ 
tion  of  the  witches  of  Labourd  in  the  French  Basque  territory, 
and  the  trial  of  those  of  Zugarramurdi,  on  the  Spanish  side  of 
the  frontier,  give  us  a  fair  picture  of  the  prevalence  and  inten¬ 
sity  of  the  belief  in  sorcery  among  all  the  nations  of  Europe 
during  the  earlier  years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  We  can 
not  be  surprised  if,  under  these  circumstances,  the  charge  was 
often  made  a  weapon  of  resentment  and  revenge,  not  only  in  the 
lowest,  but  sometimes  even  in  the  highest  class  of  society,  and 


THE  COUNTESS  OF  ESSEN. 


225 


il  e\  en  people  of  rank  and  education  were  credulous  enough  to 
have  recourse  to  the  assistance  of  the  sorcerer  and  witch.  &We 
will  proceed  to  take  a  few  examples  of  each  of  these  cases,  and 
om  own  country  at  this  period  furnishes  us  with  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary,  and  at  the  same  time  mysterious,  tragedies  that 
are  to  be  found  in  our  annals. 

No  period  of  English  history  offers  us  so  much  that  is  dark 
and  repugnant  as  the  reign  of  James  I.  The  private  history  of 
that  monarch  s  court  is  very  imperfectly  known,  and  the  few 
revelations  that  have  been  made  are  calculated  to  convince  us 
that  in  this  case  “  ignorance  is  bliss.”  Perhaps  of  all  the  mys¬ 
terious  affairs  of  this  reign,  none  present  more  difficulties  than 
the  history  ot  James’s  first  great  favorite,  Robert  Carr. 

I  bis  man  was  of  a  respectable  Scottish  family,  but  he  had  re¬ 
ceived  a  mean  education,  and  the  merits  which  gained  him  the 
royal  favor  were  a  “  comely  personage,”  and  a  taste  in  dress. 

le  king  s  fondness  for  him  was  shown  openly  in  an  undignified 
manner ;  for,  to  use  the  words  of  a  nobleman  who  was  in  con¬ 
stant  attendance  at  King  James’s  court,  the  monarch  “  would 
lean  on  his  arm,  pinch  his  cheek,  smooth  his  ruffled  garment, 
and,, when  directing  discourse  to  others,  nevertheless  gaze  on 
him.”  Such  was  one  of  the  principal  heroes  of  the  tragedy  now 
to  be  related,  but  the  person  who  appears  most  active  in  it  was 
a  lady. 

The  lady  Frances  Howard,  daughter  of  Thomas,  earl  of  Suf¬ 
folk,  and  great  niece  of  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Northampton 
and^  lord  high  treasurer  of  England,  had  been  married  in  1606 
to  Robert,  earl  of  Essex,  who  was  in  after-life  distinguished  as 
the  parliamentary  leader.  It  was  a  marriage  of  family  policy, 
and  at  the  time  it  took  place  the  bride  was  thirteen  years  of  age, 
and  the  bridegroom  only  fourteen.  The  lady  grew  up  to  be  one 
of  the  most  dissolute  of  the  ladies  of  James’s  court — which  was 
not  remarkable  for  its  morality — and  according  to  the  court 
scandal  of  the  day,  she  had  intrigued  with  Prince  Henry,  and 
had  been  cast  of!  by  him”  on  account  of  her  notorious  infidel¬ 
ity1  At  length  the  countess  of  Essex  became  passionately  en¬ 
amoured  of  the  king’s  favorite,  who  was  raised  to  the  peerage  in 
the  spring  of  1611,  under  the  title  of  Viscount  Rochester. 

It  appears  that  there  were  at  the  same  time  two  separate  in¬ 
trigues  in  progress  to  bring  together  Lord  Rochester  and  the 
countess  of  Essex  ;  one  had  its  foundation  in  interest  alone,  and 
the  other  was  the  offspring  of  ambition  and  love. 

I  he  old  courtiers  were  alarmed  at  the  power  of  the  young 


22G 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


favorite,  and  were  anxious  to  secure  themselves  by  obtaining 
liis  favor,  and  none  more  so  than  the  aged  treasurer  Henry, 
earl  of  Northampton.  At  the  time  when  the  commons  of  Eng¬ 
land  were  preparing  to  assert  their  dignity  and  rights,  a  great 
part  of  the  nobility  seem  to  have  sunk  into  a  degree  of  baseness 
which  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine,  and  there  appears  but  too  much 
reason  for  believing  that  the  earl  of  Northampton  did  not  shrink 
from  using  the  prostitution  of  his  kinswoman  to  secure  his  influ¬ 
ence  at  court.  It  was  probably  in  that  ancient  and  sad-looking 
mansion  which  still  looks  over  the  commencement  of  the  Strand, 
and  was  then  the  earl’s  residence,  and  known  as  Northampton 
(now  Northumberland)  house,  that  the  plot  was  managed  which 
eventually  led  to  the  ill-fated  marriage  of  which  I  am  going  to  tell 
the  consequences.  The  plotters  are  said  to  have  employed  in  this 
intrigue  a  follower  of  the  new  favorite,  named  Copinger,  at 
whose  house  the  meetings  between  Lord  Rochester  and  Lady 
Essex  sometimes  took  place. 

The  lady,  however,  was  too  ardent  in  her  passion  to  wait  the 
effect  of  this  intrigue,  or  perhaps  she  was  not  fully  acquainted 
with  the  designs  of  her  relatives.  She  made  her  confidante  of 
Mrs.  Anne  Turner,  the  widow  of  a  physician  of  respectability;  a 
woman  not  deficient  in  beauty,  and  who  was  at  this  time  the 
mistress  of  Sir  Arthur  Mainwaring,  an  attendant  on  the  prince. 
With  this  worthy  companion  in  her  evil  doings,  the  countess  re¬ 
paired  to  Dr.  Simon  Foreman,  the  magician,  who,  as  has  been 
stated,  was  living  at  Lambeth,  and  with  whom  Mrs.  Turner  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  already  acquainted.  It  was  soon  agreed  be¬ 
tween  them  that  Foreman  should  by  his  magic  bewitch  the  Lord 
Rochester,  and  so  turn  his  affections  that  they  should  be  irrevo¬ 
cably  fixed  on  Lady  Essex,  and  he  was  in  the  same  way  to  in¬ 
fluence  Sir  Arthur  Mainwaring  toward  Mrs.  Turner.  The 
intercourse  between  the  ladies  and  the  conjurer  became  now 
frequent,  and  he  used  all  his  skill  in  charms  and  images  to  effect 
their  desire.  At  a  subsequent  period  Foreman’s  wife  deposed 
in  court  “  that  Mrs.  Turner  and  her  husband  would  sometimes 
be  locked  upp  in  his  studye  for  three  or  four  howres  together 
and  the  countess  became  so  intimate  that  she  spoke  of  Foreman 
as  her  “  sweet  father.” 

The  result  of  all  these  intrigues  was  that  Lord  Rochester  be¬ 
came  violently  enamoured  of  the  countess,  and  they  formed  an 
intimacy  which  soon  assumed  a  criminal  character.  Their 
stolen  meetings  were  held  at  Mrs.  Turner’s  house  in  Paternos- 
ter-row,  at  Copinger’s,  and  elsewhere,  and  became  a  matter  of 


FOREMAN  THE  CONJURER. 


227 


puolic  scandal.  But  in  the  meanwhile  a  new  obstacle  had  risen 
in  the  way  of  their  criminal  enjoyments.  The  young  earl  of  Es¬ 
sex,  who  had  been  separated  from  his  wife  immediately  after  their 
premature  marriage,  returned  from  the  wars  abro^l  to  claim  his 
rights  at  home.  T  he  Lady  Essex  had  scarcely  known  her  hus¬ 
band,  she  could  have  no  love  toward  him,  and  she  was  unwil¬ 
ling  to  relinquish  her  attachments  and  courtly  tastes  to  live  in 
private  with  a  nobleman  who  never  seems  to  have  been  much 
of  a  courtier.  It  required  the  earnest  expostulations  of  her 
father  to  bring  the  young  couple  together,  and  when  the  earl  of 
Essex,  disturbed  at  the  reports  which  soon  reached  him  of  her 
recent  mode  of  life,  took  her  to  his  house  at  Chartley,  her  cold¬ 
ness  toward  her  lord  was  turned  into  intense  hatred. 

Mrs.  Burner  was  again  sent  to  Foreman,  who  undertook  to 
bewitch  the  earl  of  Essex  in  the  contrary  sense  to  that  in  which 
he  had  enchanted  the  viscount  Rochester.  New  images  were 
made,  new  charms  invented,  and  the  doctor  furnished  "powders 
to  be  administered,  and  washes  to  bathe  his  linen,  which  were 
to  render  the  earl  of  Essex  incapable  of  loving  his  lady.  The 
latter  had  been  convinced  that  Foreman’s  charms  had  procured 
her  the  affection  of  her  lover,  and  she  was  now  disappointed  at 
finding  them  ineffectual  against  her  husband.  Letters  addressed 
by  her  at  this  time  to  Mrs.  Turner  and  Dr.  Foreman  were  pro¬ 
duced  at  a  later  period,  in  which  she  complained  that  “  my  lord 
is  very  well  as  ever  he  was,”  and  expressed  her  aversion  to  him 
and  her  wish  to  be  rid  of  him. 

In  the  midst  of  these  dark  transactions  a  new  circumstance 
happened  which  threatened  to  impede  their  intrigues.  This 
was  the  sudden  death  of  their  grand  agent,  Doctor  Foreman, 
who,  to  use  the  words  of  a  manuscript  report  of  the  subsequent 
trial,  “  a  little  before  his  death  desired  he  might  be  buryed  very 
deepe  in  the  ground,  ‘  or  else,’  sakh  liee,  ‘  I  shall  feare  you  all.’  ”* 
Foreman  himself  appears  to  have  been  apprehensive  of  the  con- 

*  Lilly  received  from  Foreman’s  widow  the  following  singular  account  of  his 
sudden  death:  “  The  Sunday  night  before  he  died,  his  wife  and  ho  being  at  sup¬ 
per  in  their  garden-house,  she  being  pleasant,  told  him,  that  she  had  been  informed 
he  could  resolve  whether  man  or  wife  should  die  first;  ‘Whether  shall  I.’  quoth 
she,  ‘  bury  you  or  no  V — ‘Oh,  Trunco,’  for  so  he  called  her,  ‘thou  shalt  bury  me 
but  thou  wilt  much  repent  it.’— ‘  Yea,  but  how  long  first?’—1 1  shall  die,’  said  he’, 
‘ere  Thursday  night.’  Monday  came,  all  was  well.  Tuesday  came,  he  not  sick! 
W  ednesday  came,  and  still  he  was  well ;  with  which  his  impertinent  wife  did 
much  twit  him  in  his  teeth.  Thursday  came,  and  dinner  was  ended,  he  very  well : 
he  went  down  to  the  water  side,  and  took  a  pair  of  oars  to  go  to  some  buildings  he 
was  in  baud  with  in  Puddle-dock.  Being  in  the  middle  of  the  Thames,  he  pres¬ 
ently  fell  down,  only  saying,  '  An  impost,  an  impost,’  and  so  died.  A  mosl  sad 
storm  of  wind  immediately  following.” 


223 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


sequences  of  liis  dealings  in  this  affair,  for  Lilly,  who  was  ac¬ 
quainted  with  his  widow,  tells  us  that  “  he  professed  to  her 
there  would  be  much  trouble  about  Carr  and  the  countess  of 
Essex,  who  frequently  resorted  unto  him,  and  from  whose  com¬ 
pany  he  would  sometimes  lock  himself  in  his  study  a  whole 
day.”  Mrs.  Foreman,  when  afterward  examined  in  court,  de¬ 
posed,  that  “  Mrs.  Turner  came  to  her  house  immediatelye  after 
her  husband’s  death,  and  did  demaund  certaine  pictures,  which 
were  in  her  husband’s  studye,  namely,  one  picture  in  waxe,  very 
sumptuously  apparrelled  in  silke  and  sattin,  as  alsoe  another  sit¬ 
ting  in  forme  of  a  naked  woman,  spreading  and  layinge  forthe 
her  haire  in  a  glasse,  which  Mrs.  Turner  did  confidentlye  affirme 
to  be  in  a  boxe,  and  that  she  knewe  in  what  part  of  the  roome 
in  the  studye  they  were.”  Foreman  is  reported  to  have  said,  in 
reply  to  the  expostulations  of  the  countess,  that  the  devil,  as  he 
had  learned,  had  no  power  over  the  person  of  the  earl  of  Essex  ; 
yet  she  persisted  in  her  designs,  and  after  Foreman’s  death,  an¬ 
other  conjurer  was  employed,  one  Doctor  Lavoire  or  Savory,  as 
the  name  is  differently  written  in  different  manuscripts. 

But  a  more  powerful  agent  than  the  conjurers  was  now  brought 
in.  We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  at  what  time  King  James 
was  first  made  acquainted  with  the  amorous  intrigues  of  his  favo¬ 
rite,  but,  as  the  latter  was  as  anxious  to  get  the  lady  Essex  away 
from  her  husband  as  she  was  to  leave  him,  the  English  Solomon 
resolved  that  both  should  be  gratified.  The  countess  was  in¬ 
structed  to  bring  against  the  earl  of  Essex  a  charge  of  conjugal 
incapacity,  a  commission  of  reverend  prelates  of  the  church  was 
appointed  to  sit  in  judgment,  over  whom  the  king  presided  in  per¬ 
son,  and  a  jury  of  matrons  was  found  to  give  their  opinion  that 
the  lady  Essex  was  a  maiden.  James  seems  to  have  gloated  over 
this  revolting  process  with  the  same  degree  of  pleasure  which 
he  had  derived  from  the  examination  of  the  witches  in  Edinbor- 
ough  ;  the  earl  of  Essex  appears  to  have  made  no  opposition,  and 
the  king  pressed  with  indecent  eagerness  a  judgment  of  divorce. 
This  being  effected,  the  king,  with  no  less  indecency,  hastened 
a  marriage  between  his  favorite  and  the  lady,  with  whose  char¬ 
acter  he  could  not  have  been  unacquainted,  and  heaped  new  hon¬ 
ors  upon  the  former  for  this  occasion.  On  the  3d  of  November, 
1613,  Robert  Carr,  Viscount  Rochester,  was  elevated  to  the  rank 
and  title  of  earl  of  Somerset ;  and  on  St.  Stephen’s  day  (Decem¬ 
ber  26),  King  James  gave  the  lady  to  his  minion  at  the  altar,  and 
the  marriage  was  celebrated  by  the  court  with  unusual  splendor. 

There  was  one  circumstance  connected  with  this  guilty  mar- 


SIR  THOMAS  OVERBURY. 


220 


riage,  or  at  least  contemporaneous  with  the  intrigues  which  have 
just  been  described,  that  become  in  the  sequel  the  foundation  of 
events  still  more  extraordinary. 

Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  who  is  known  by  literary  compositions 
ot  some  merit,  was  almost  as  much  the  favorite  of  Carr  in  the 
earlier  period  ol  his  fortunes,  as  Carr  was  of  the  king;  and  al¬ 
though  represented  in  the  common  published  accounts  as  a  man 
of  honorable  character,  there  appears  to  be  not  wanting  grounds 
lor  suspecting  that  he  was  a  fit.  companion  for  the  monarch  and 
his  favorite.  It  appears  from  documents  afterward  brought  for- 
waul,  that  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  exercised  for  several  years  the 
extraordinary  vocation  of  imparting  ideas  and  language  to  the 
eaif  of  Somerset,  as  to  a  puppet,  who,  by  means  of  his  secret 
suggestions,  moved  the  inclinations  of  King  James  which  way 
he  would,  governed  councils,  and  fascinated  the  beauties  of  the 
court;  and  that  he  crowned  his  various  achievements  by  writing 
love-letters  in  his  patron’s  name,  through  which  Lady  Essex 
was  led  to  indulge  a  guilty  passion.  Yet  strangely'  enough, 
when  Ins  patron  resolved  to  marry  his  mistress,  and  was  sup¬ 
ported  in  that  resolution  by  the  open  approval  and  encourage- 
ment  of  his  sovereign,  Overbury  is  represented  as  putting  him¬ 
self  forward  indiscreetly  to  oppose  the  marriage,  and  as  thus 
drawing  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  the  favorite  and  his  mistress. 
It  was  determined  by  some  means  or  other  to  get  Overburv  out  of 
the  way ;  the  king,  at  the  instigation  (as  it  is  said)  of  Somerset 
and  the  earl  of  Northampton,  offered  to  send  him  embassador  to 
Kussia,  and  when  (also,  it  is  said,  at  Somerset’s  suggestion)  he 
refused  the  employment,  James,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  ordered  him  to 
be  committed  close  prisoner  to  the  tower.  Here  Overbury  lin¬ 
gered  in  a  sicldy  state  of  body  till  the  19th  of  October  1613 
when  he  died.  ’  ’ 

For  a  while  after  the  marriage,  the  king’s  attachment  to  the 
earl  of  Somerset  seemed  to  increase  from  day  to  day,  and  honors 
and  riches  were  showered  thick  upon  him,  but  at  length  it  was 
perceived  that  James  began  to  be  tired  of  his  favorite,  and  his 
enemies  seized  the  opportunity  to  conspire  his  ruin.  Amomr 
these,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Abbott,  with  whom  Soiner- 
set  had  quarrelled,  was  one  of  the  most  active,  and  he  has  left 
us  an  account  ol  the  way  in  which  these  intrigues  were  carried 
on.  “We  could  have  no  way  so  good,”  says  the  archbishop, 
to  effectuate  that  which  was  the  common  desire,  as  to  brino-  in 
another  in  his  room  ;  one  nail  the  proverb  is,  being  to  be  driven 
out  by  another.  It  was  now  observed  that  the  king  beimn  to  cast 

20 


230 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


his  eye  upon  George  Villiers,  who  was  then  cup-bearer,  and 
seemed  a  modest  and  courteous  youth.  But  King  James  had  a 
fashion,  that  he  would  never  admit  any  one  to  nearness  about 
himself,  but  such  a  one  as  the  queen  should  commend  to  him, 
and  make  some  suit  in  that  behalf,  in  order  that,  if  the  queen  af¬ 
terward,  being  ill-treated,  should  complain  of  this  dear  one ,  he 
might  make  this  answer,  ‘  It  is  come  of  yourself,  for  you  were 
the  party  that  commended  him  unto  me.’  Our  old  master  took 
delight  in  things  of  this  nature.”  The  queen  hated  Somerset, 
and  after  a  good  deal  of  communications  and  intriguing,  she  con- 
sented  to  act  the  part  required ;  and  Villiers  was  appointed  a 
gentleman  of  the  chamber,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  old 
favorite,  who  was  made  to  feel  more  and  more  that  he  was  losing 
favor  with  the  king.  Still  the  king  continued  outwardly  to  show 
him  the  same  attention  as  before,  and  even  increased  his  honors, 
by  which  he  was  lulled  into  security,  while  a  deep  plot  was  laid 
for  his  final  overthrow,  in  which  James,  daily  more  attached  to 
the  new  object,  appears  to  have  concurred. 

All  who  looked  forward  for  advancement  through  the  new  fa¬ 
vorite  were  zealous  in  persecuting  the  old  one,  arid  among  these 
were  Sir  Ralph  Winwood,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  state,  and  a 
creature  of  Villiers,  and  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  to  whom  Villiers 
held  out  the  prospect  of  the  chancellorship  of  England.  The 
first  of  these  got  up  the  accusation  on  which  Somerset  was  tried, 
and  the  second  was  employed  to  conduct  the  prosecution.  It 
was  stated  that  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  had  been  poisoned  in  the 
Tower  by  agents  of  the  countess  and  earl  of  Somerset,  that  his 
body  had  been  hastily  and  privately  buried  without  having  been 
shown  even  to  his  friends,  and  that  Somerset’s  power  over  ihe 
king  had  been  used  to  hush  up  and  conceal  the  crime.  Several 
inferior  agents  were  committed  to  prison,  and  by  the  king’s  or¬ 
ders  a  warrant  was  made  to  arrest  the  earl  of  Somerset,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  executed  after  he  left  the  king’s  presence  at 
Royston.  In  the  last  scene  of  this  court  drama,  the  king  exhib¬ 
ited  the  most  heartless  duplicity.  The  following  account  is  given 
by  an  eyewitness,  Sir  Anthony  Weldon  : — 

“  The  king  with  this  took  his  farewell  for  a  time  of  London, 
and  was  accompanied  with  Somerset  t.o  Royston,  where  no  soon¬ 
er  he  brought  him,  but  the  earle  instantly  took  his  leave,  little 
imagining  what  viper  lay  among  the  herbs.  Nor  must  I  forget 
to  let  you  know  how  perfect  the  king  was  iii  the  art  of  dissimu¬ 
lation,  or,  to  give  it  bis  own  phrase,  kingcraft.  The  earle  of 
Somerset  never  parted  from  him  with  more  seeming  affection 


TRIAL  OF  THE  EARL  OF  SOMERSET.  231 

than  at  this  time,  when  he  knew  Somerset  should  never  see  him 
more;  and  had  you  seen  that  seeming  affection  (as  the  author 
himsetfe  did),  you  would  rather  have  believed  he  was  in  his 
rising  than  setting.  The  earle,  when  he  kissed  his  hand,  the 

ung  hung  about  his  neck,  slabbering  his  cheeks,  saying : _ 

^  or  s .  sake?  when  shall  I  see  thee  againe?  On  my 
S°u  n’l  s*ia11  neither  eat  nor  sleep  until  you  come  againe  V 

1  he  earle  told  him  on  Monday  (this  being  on  the  Friday) — 

.  "  '  i  „  jG?d’S  ®ake’  let  mfc’’  said  the  king,  ‘  shall  I,  shall  I  ?’ 
then  idled  about  Ins  neck.  ‘  Then  for  God’s  sake,  give  thy  lady 
this  kiss  for  me.’  J  J 

“  In  the  same  manner,  at  the  stayres’  head,  at  the  middle  of  the 
st  ay  res,  and  at  the  stayres  foot.  The  earl  was  now  in  Ins  coach 
when  the  king  used  these  very  words  (in  the  hearing  of  four  ser¬ 
vants  ol  whom  one  was  Somerset’s  great  creature,  and  of  the 
bed-chamber  who  reported  it  instantly' to  the  author  of  this  his¬ 
tory],  I  shall  never  see  his  face  more.’  ” 

The  earl  was  placed  under  arrest  on  his  return  to  London,  but 
instead  ol  proceeding  to  an  examination  of  the  two  principal 
offenders  the  minor  actors  in  the  tragedy  were  first  brought  to 
na  he  o  iject  in  view  from  the  beginning  appears  to  have 
been  to  bring  forward  as  little  evidence  as  possible,  but  to  use 
every  means  of  inducing  the  various  persons  accused  to  con¬ 
fess  themselves  guilty  and  accuse  their  supposed  employers. 
Although  at  first  some  of  them  obstinately  denied  any  knowledge 
of  the  crime  imputed  to  them,  they  all  ended  by  confessing  what¬ 
ever  was  required  influenced  either  by  hope  or  fear,  and  when 
reir  confessions  had  been  obtained,  they  were  hurried  to  the 

Wn  ThV  n  aS  ie  dcluay  as  P°ssib!e-  We  can  hardly  doubt, 
from  the  evidence  that  the  countess  of  Somerset  had  been  anx¬ 
ious  for  Overbury’s  death,  and  that  she  had  suborned  persons  to 

EeTad l  beet,  poi "0t  aPP<!ar  ^  'he  e''idenCe  ,hat 

During  these  trials  the  pflblic  excitement  was  so  great  that 
Westminster  hall  was  intensely,  crowded,  and  immense  sums 
were  given  for  places  on  the  scaffolding  erected  for  the  occasion. 

his  vyas  especially  the  case  on  the  7th  of  November,  1615,  the 
day  when  Mrs.  Turner  was  arraigned,  and  a  feeling  of  supersti- 
OUS  fear  seized  on  the  assemblage  when  on  that  occasion  the 
instruments  of  Foreman’s  conjurations  were  exposed  to  view.  It 
appears  that  when  Mrs.  Turner  was  arrested,  she  sent  her  maid 
m  haste  to  Foreman’s  widow,  to  warn  her  that  the  privy  council 
would  probably  give  orders  to  search  her  house,  and  to  urge  her 


232 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


to  burn  any  ofber  husband’s  papers  that  were  calculated  to  com¬ 
promise  her.  Mrs.  Foreman  saw  that  the  trouble  her  husband 
foretold  had  arrived,  and  she  followed  the  suggestion  thus  con- 
veyed'to  her,  but  a  few  documents  were  preserved  that  were  now 
brought  into  court,  and  among  these  were  the  two  guilty  letters 
addressed  by  Lady  Essex  from  Chartley,  to  Mrs.  Turner  and 
Foreman,  which  according  to  some  accounts,  had  been  found  in 
the  conjuror’s  pockets  after  his  sudden  death.  The  various  ar¬ 
ticles  which  were  seized  in  Foreman’s  house  related  to  the  at¬ 
tempts  to  enchant  the  earls  of  Somerset  and  Essex,  and  not  to 
the  murder  of  Overbury.  “  There  was  shewed  in  court  cer- 
teine  pictures  of  a  man  and  a  woman  made  in  lead,  and  also-a 
mould  of  brasse  wherein  they  were  cast,  a  blacke  scarfe  alsoe  full 
of  white  crosses,  which  Mrs.  Turner  had  in  her  custodie in  ad¬ 
dition  to  which  there  were  “  inchanted  paps  and  other  pictures.” 
These  might  be  innocent  enough,  if  they  had  not  been  fol¬ 
lowed  by  a  parcel  of  Foreman’s  written  charms  and  conjura¬ 
tions.  “  In  some  of  these  parchments,”  says  the  contemporary 
report  of  the  trial  in  the  manuscript  from  which  we  are  quoting, 
“  the  devill  had  particular  names,  who  were  conjured  to  torment 
the  Lord  Somersett  and  Sir  Arthur  Mannering,  if  theire  loves 
should  not  contynue,  the  one  to  the  countesse,  the  other  to  Mrs. 
Turner.”  The  horror  caused  by  these  revelations  was  so  great, 
that  the  multitude  assembled  in  the  hall  involuntarily  led  into  the 
delusion  that  the  demons  were  present  among  them,  witnessing 
the  exposure  of  their  victims,  and  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  this 
sensation,  “  there  was  heard  a  crack  from  the  scaffold  which  car- 
ryed  a  great  feare,  tumult,  and  commotion,  among  the  spectators 
and  through  the  hall,  every  one  feareing  hurt,  as  if  the  devill  had 
bine  present  and  growen  angry  to  have  his  workemanshipp 
knowne  by  such  as  were  not  his  owne  schollars.”  The  reporter 
adds,  “  There  was  alsoe  a  note  showed  in  courte,  made  by  Doc¬ 
tor  Foreman,  and  written  in  parchment,  signifying  what  ladyes 
loved  what  lords  in  the  court,  but  "the  lord  chiefe-justice  would 
not  suffer  it  to  be  read  openly  in  courte.”  This  “note,”  or  book, 
is  understood  to  have  been  a  diary  of  Foreman’s  dealings  with 
the  persons  implicated  ;  and,  according  to  the  scandal  of  the 
time,  the  reason  why  my  lord-chief-justice  objected  to  reading  it 
was,  that  his  own  wife’s  name  was  the  lirst  vvhich  caught  his  eye 
on  opening  it.*  Mrs.  Turner  had  been  a  favorite  with  the  court 

*■  Had  we  Foreman’s  private  diaries  for  this  period,' they  would  no  doubt  throw 
much  light  on  contemporary  history.  The  immorality  of  the  conjuror’s  private  char¬ 
acter  is  sufficiently  evinced  by  that  portion  of  his  secret  diaries  privately  priuted  by 
Mr.  Halliwell. 


TRIAL  OF  THE  EARL  OF  SOMERSET. 


233 


ladies  on  account  of  her  skill  in  inventing  new  fashions  ;  fully 
aware  that  it  was  useless  to  make  any  defence,  she  sought  to 
move  compassion  by  representing  that  she  was  a  mere  servant 
to  the  will  of  people  of  higher  rank,  on  whom  she  had  to  depend 
for  the  support  of  herself  and  children.  Her  fate  is  said  to  liave 
excited  much  commiseration. 

Several  months  were  allowed  to  elapse  after  the  execution  of 
the  minor  agents,  on  whose  confessions  these  charges  rested, 
before  the  great  offenders  were  proceeded  against.  The  countess 
of  Somerset  was  brought  to  her  trial  on  the  24th  of  May,  1616, 
and  she  at  once  pleaded  guilty,  under  the  evident  impression  that 
this  plea  was  to  merit  a  pardon.  This  had  no  doubt  been  ar¬ 
ranged  beforehand.  There  remained  nothing  now  but  to  con¬ 
demn  the  earl,  whose  trial  was  fixed  for  the  day  following,  the 
25th  of  May ;  but  he  it  appears,  was  more  difficult  to  deal  with 
than  the  other  prisoners.  The  conduct  of  the  king  and  the  earl 
on  this  occasion  was  calculated  to  excite  extraordinary  suspi¬ 
cions  ;  for  the  reports  of  the  trial  and  the  version  of  the  story 
which  came  before  the  public  were  evidently  drawn  up  for  the 
purpose  of  deceiving.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to  throw  some 
light  on  these  mysterious  transactions  by  Mr.  Amos,  who  has  ex¬ 
amined  the  documents  relating  to  this  trial  preserved  in  the  state- 
paper  office,  and  has  collected  the  materials  which  we  are  now 
to  use.* 

The  letters  of  Bacon,  whose  conduct  throughout  these  trials 
was,  to  say  the  least,  most  unmanly,  show  us  that  the  king  looked 
forward  to  the  trial  of  Somerset  with  the  greatest  uneasiness, 
and  that  every  effort  was  made  to  induce  him  to  admit  the  justice 
of  the  prosecution,  even  by  the  promise  of  the  king’s  pardon. 
Bacon  writes  to  Sir  George  Yilliers,*on  the  second  of  May, 
“  That  same  little  charm,  which  may  be  secretly  infused  into 
Somerset’s  ear  some  few  hours  before  his  trial,  was  excellently 
well  thought  of  by  his  majesty,  and  I  do  approve  it  both  for  mat¬ 
ter  and  time  ;  only,  if  it  seems  good  to  his  majesty  ...  I  could 
wish  it  were  made  a  little  stronger,  by  giving  him  some  hopes 
that  his  majesty  will  be  good  to  his  lady  and  child,  &c.  .  .  For 
the  person  that  should  deliver  this  message,  I  am  not  so  well 
seen  in  the  region  of  his  friends,  as  to  be  able  to  make  choice  of 
a  particular  ;  my  lord  treasurer,  the  lord  Knollys,  or  any  of  his 
nearest  friends,  should  not  be  trusted  with  it,  for  they  may  go 

*  The  Grand  Oyer  of  Poisoning:  the  Trial  of  the  Earl  of  Somerset,  for  the  Poi¬ 
soning  of  Sir  Thomas  O  verbury  in  the  Tower  of  Loudon.  By  Andrew  Amos,  Esq. 
London,  Bentley,  1846. 


20* 


234 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


too  far,  and  perhaps  work  contrary  to  his  majesty’s  ends.  Those 
which  occur  to  me  are  my  Lord  Hay,  my  Lord  Burleigh,  of  England 
I  mean,  and  Sir  Robert  Carre.”  On  May  5tli,  Bacon  writes  to 
Villiers,  after  Stating  his  opinion  that  the  “  resuscitation  of  Som¬ 
erset’s  fortune”  would  be  impolitic  :  “  But  yet  the  glimmering  of 
that  which  the  king  hath  done  to  others,  by  way  of  talk  to  him, 
can  not  hurt,  as  I  conceive  ;  but  I  would  not  have  that  part  of  the 
message  as  from  the  king,  but  added  by  the  messenger  as  from 
himself  .  .  .  The  time  I  wish  to  be  the  Tuesday,  being  the  even 
of  his  lady’s  arraignment;  for,  as  his  majesty  first  conceived,  I 
would  not  have  it  stay  in  his  stomach  too  long,  lest  it  sour  in  the 
digestion.”  He  was,  in  fact,  to  be  taken  by  surprise,  and  not 
left  time  for  calm  reflection.  Several  other  letters  and  papers  of 
Bacon  contain  similar  intimations;  and  it  appears  from  one,  that 
while  the  countess  and  her  husband  were  kept  perfectly  in  the 
secret  as  to  what  course  the  other  was  pursuing,  or  what  evi¬ 
dence  existed  against  the  other,  they  were  still  played  off  against 
each  other.  Bacon  says,  on  the  tenth  of  May,  “  It  is  thought 
that  at  the  day  of  her  trial  the  lady  will  confess  the  indictment ; 
which,  if  she  do,  no  evidence  ought  to  be  given.  But  because 
it  shall  not  be  a  dumb  show,  and  for  his  majesty’s  honor  in  so 
solemn  an  assembly,  I  purpose  to  make  a  declaration  of  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  this  great  work  of  justice,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end,  wherein,  nevertheless,  I  will  be  careful  no  ways  to  prevent 
or  discover  the  evidence  of  the  next  day.  In  this  my  lord-chan¬ 
cellor  and  I  have  likewise  used  a  point  of  providence  ;  for  I  did 
forecast,  that  if  in  that  narrative,  by  the  connection  of  things, 
anything  should  he  spoken  that  should  show  him  guilty,  she  might 
break  forth  into  passionate  protestations  for  his  clearing  ;  which, 
though  it  may  be  justly  made  light  of,  yet  it  is  better  avoided  ; 
therefore,  my  lord-chancellor  and  I  have  devised,  that  upon  the 
entrance  into  that  declaration  she  shall,  in  respect  of  her  weak¬ 
ness,  and  not  to  add  farther  affliction,  be  withdrawn .”  In  a  paper 
of  questions  for  the  management  of  the  earl’s  trial,  in  Baconjs 
handwriting,  it  s  suggested,  “  Whether,  if  my  lord  qj  Somerset 
should  break  forth  into  any  speech  of  taxing  the  king,  he  be  not 
presently  by  the  lord-steward  to  be  interrupted  and  silenced ; 
and,  if  he  persist,  he  be  not  to  be  told,  that  if  lie  take  that  course, 
he  is  to  be  withdrawn,  and  evidence  to  be  given  in  his  absence."  It 
must  be  observe  1,  that  there  is  no  intimation  that  Somerset  had 
ever  threatened  to  save  himself  by  accusing  the  king,  so  that  the 
fear  on  that  head  must  have  arisen  from  some  great  misgiving  on 
the  part  of  the  latter. 


THE  KING’S  FEARS. 


235 


Sir  George  Moore  had  been  appointed  lieutenant  of  the  Tow¬ 
er  when  Somerset  was  committed,  and  in  his  family  have  been 
preserved  the  autograph  letters  which  the  king  addressed  to  him 
during  the  preparations  for  the  trial.*  From  these,  we  see  how 
anxiously  James  was  acting  in  the  views  expressed  in  the  above 
extracts  from  Bacon’s  letters.  In  the  first  of  the  king’s  letters, 
dated  on  the  ninth  of  May,  James  says  to  Sir  George  Moore, 
“  As  the  only  confidence  I  had  in  your  honesty  made  me,  with¬ 
out  the  knowledge  of  any,  put  you  in  that  place  of  trust  which 
you  now  possess,  so  must  I  now  use  your  trust  and  secrecy  in  a 
thing  greatly  concerning  my  honor  and  service  and  he  then 
desires  him  to  admit,  in  the  greatest  secrecy,  to  his  prisoner,  a 
private  messenger,  who  was  to  persuade  him  to  confess.  On  the 
13th  of  May,  the  king  writes  again,  “  Although  I  fear  that  the 
last  message  I  sent  to  your  unfortunate  prisoner  shall  not  take 
the  effect,  that  I  wish  it  should,  yet  I  can  not  leave  off  to  use  all 
means  possible  to  move  him  to  do  that  which  is  most  honorable 
for  me,  and  his  own  best.  You  shall,  therefore,  give  him  assu¬ 
rance  in  my  name,  that  if  he  will  yet  before  his  trial  confess 
clearly  unto  the  commissioners  his  guiltiness  of  this  fact,  I  will 
not  only  perform  what  I  promised  by  my  last  messenger,  both 
toward  him  and  his  wife,  but  I  will  enlarge  it  .  .  .  Assure  him, 
that  I  protest  upon  my  honor,  my  end  in  this  is  for  his  and  his 
wife’s  good  ;  you  will  do  well,  likewise,  of  yourself  to  cast  out 
unto  him,  that  you  fear  his  wife  shall  plead  weakly  for  his  inno¬ 
cence ,  and  that  you  find  the  commissioners  have,  you  know  not 
how,  some  secret  assurance  that,  in  the  end,  she  will  confess  of 
him ;  but  this  must  only  be  as  from  yourself,  and  therefore  you 
must  not  let  him  know  that  I  have  written  to  you  ...  if  he  re¬ 
main  obstinate,  I  desire  not  that  you  should  trouble  me  with  an 
answer  ;  for  it  is  to  no  end,  and  no  news  is  better  than  evil  news” 
In  another  letter,  undated,  the  king  speaks  in  the  same  strain, 
and  adds,  “  It  is  easy  to  be  seen  that  he  would  threaten  me,  with 
laying  an  aspersion  upon  me  of  being  in  some  sort  accessory  to 
his  crime and  in  a  fourth,  which  appears  to  have  been  written 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  trial,  James  gave  some  curious  di¬ 
rections  what  should  be  done  with  the  earl,  in  case  he  refused  to 
go  to  the  trial.  It  appears  that  Somerset  did  not  believe  that  the 
king  would  allow  him  to  be  brought  to  a  public  trial. 

These  letters  to  Sir  George  Moore  furnish  a  striking  confir¬ 
mation  of  Sir  Anthony  Weldon’s  narrative  of  what  took  place  on 

*  They  are  now  at  Losely,  in  Surrey,  and  were  printed  in  Kemp’s  “  Losely 
Papers.” 


236 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  eve  of  the  trial,  which  will  be  best  given  in  his  own  words  : 
“  And  now,  for  the  last  act.  enters  Somerset  himselfe  on  the  stage, 
who  (being  told,  as  the  manner  is,  by  the  lieutenant,  that  he 
must  provyde  to  goe  next  day  to  his  tryal)  did  absolutely  refuse 
it,  and  said  they  should  carry  him  in  his  bed — that  the  king  had 
assured  him  he  should  not  come  to  any  tryal,  neither  durst  the 
king  bring  him  to  tryal.  This  was  in  an  high  strain,  and  in  a 
language  not  well  understood  by  Sir  George  Moore  (then  lieu¬ 
tenant  in  Elwaies  his  room),  that  made  Moore  quiver  and  shake  ; 
and  however  he  was  accounted  a  wise  man,  yet  he  was  neare  at 
his  wits  end.  Yet  awray  goes  Moore  to  Greenewich,  as  late  as 
it  wras  (being  twelve  at  night),  bounseth  at  the  back  stayres  as  if 
mad,  to  whom  came  Jo.  Loveston,  one  of  the  grooms,  out  of  his 
bed,  inquires  the  reason  of  that  distemper  at  so  late  a  season. 
Moore  tells  him  he  must  speak  with  the  king.  Loveston  re- 
plyes,  ‘  He  is  quiet,’  (which  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  is  fast 
asleep).  Moore  says,  ‘You  must  awake  him.’  Moore  was 
called  in  (the  chamber  left  to  the  king  and  Moore).  He  tells 
the  king  those  passages,  and  desired  to  be  directed  by  the  king, 
for  he  was  gone  beyond  his  owne  reason,  to  lieare  such  bold 
and  undutiful  expressions  from  a  faulty  subject  against  a  just 
sovereigne.  The  king  fails  into  a  passion  of  tears  :  ‘  On  my 
soule,  Moore,  I  wot  not  what  to  do  !  Thou  art  a  wise  man  ; 
help  me  in  this  great  strait,  and  thou  shalt  finde  thou  dost  it  for 
a  thankful  master  with  other  sad  expressions.  Moore  leaves 
the  king  in  that  passion,  but  assures  him  he  will  prove  the  ut¬ 
most  of  his  wit  to  serve  his  majesty  ;  and  was  really  rewarded 
with  a  suit,  worth  to  him  £1,500  (although  Annandale,  his  great 
friend,  did  cheat  him  of  one  half ;  so  was  there  falsehood  in 
friendship).  Sir  George  Moore  returns  to  Somerset  about  three 
next  morning  of  that  day  he  was  to  come  to  triall,  enters  Som¬ 
erset’s  chamber,  tells  him  he  had  been  with  the  king,  found  him 
a  most  affectionate  master  unto  him,  and  full  of  grace  in  his  in¬ 
tentions  toward  him.  ‘But,’  said  he,  ‘to  satisfie  justice  you 
must  appeare,  although  returne  instantly  againe,  without  any  fur¬ 
ther  proceedings  ;  only  you  shall  know  your  enemies  and  their 
malice,  though  they  shall  have  no  power  over  you.’  With  this 
trick  of  wit  he  allayed  his  fury,  and  got  him  quietly,  about  eight 
in  the  morning,  to  the  hall  ;  yet  feared  his  former  bold  language 
might  revert  againe,  and  being  brought  by  this  trick  into  the 
toile,  might  have  more  enraged  him  to  fly  out  into  some  strange 
discovery ;  for  prevention  whereof  he  had  two  servants  placed 
on  each  side  of  him,  with  a  cloak  on  their  arms,  giving  them 


SOMERSET’S  TRIAL. 


237 


withall  a  peremptory  order,  if  that  Somerset  did  any  way  fly  out 
on  the  king,  they  should  instantly  hoodwink  him  with  their 
cloaks,  take  him  violently  from  the  bar,  and  carry  him  away  ; 
for  which  he  would  secure  them  from  any  danger,  and  they 
should  not  want  also  a  bountiful  reward.  But  the  earle,  finding 
himself  overreached,  recollected  a  better  temper,  and  went  on 
calmly  in  his  tryall,  where  he  held  the  company  until  seven  at 
night.  But  who  had  seen  the  king’s  restlesse  motion  all  that 
day,  sending  to  every  boat  he  saw  landing  at  the  bridge,  cursing 
all  that  came  without  tidings,  would  have  easily  judged  all  was 
not  right,  *and  there  had  been  some  grounds  for  his  feares  of 
Somerset’s  boldnesse  ;  but  at  last  one  bringing  him  woi’d  he  was 
condemned  and  the  passages,  all  was  quiet.  This  is  the  very 
relation  from  Moore’s  owne  mouth,  and  this  told  verbatim  in 
Wanstaad  Parke,  to  two  gentlemen  (of  which  the  author  was 
one),  who  were  both  left  by  him  to  their  own  freedome,  without 
engaging  them,  even  in  those  times  of  high  distemperatures, 
unto  a  faithful  secresie  in  concealing  it,  yet,  though  he  failed  in 
his  wisdome,  they  failed  not  in  that  worth  inherent  in  every 
noble  spirit,  never  speaking  of  it  till  after  the  king’s  death.” 

Somerset’s  trial  was,  in  every  respect,  a  mere  mockery  of  jus¬ 
tice.  He  was  tried,  not  by  his  peers  in  parliament,  but  by  a 
select  number  of  peers  chosen  for  the  occasion,  who  were  his 
personal  enemies  or  creatures  of  the  court.  His  judges  again 
urged  him  to  plead  guilty,  intimating  that  his  wife  had  made  a 
confession  that  implicated  him,  and  holding  out  the  prospect  of 
a  full  pardon  as  the  reward  of  his  confession.  When  he  still  in¬ 
sisted  upon  his  innocence,  they  brought  against  him  no  witnesses, 
but  merely  adduced  as  evidence  the  confessions  of  the  persons 
who  had  already  been  hanged,  and  who  had  never  been  confront¬ 
ed  with  the  man  they  accused.  On  the  contrary,  one  gentle¬ 
man,  Sir  John  Lidcot,  no  friend  of  Somerset’s,  having  presumed, 
on  the  scaffold,  to  ask  Weston,  who  it  was  pretended  had  deliv¬ 
ered  the  poison,  whether  he  had  poisoned  Overbury  or  not,  was 
thrown  into  the  Tower  and  treated  harshly.  Late  in  the  after¬ 
noon  the  earl  began  an  able  and  eloquent  defence,  in  which  he 
explained  away  or  denied  every  circumstance  adduced  to  show 
that  he  knew  of  the  murder ;  and  he  insisted  that  his  assertions 
ought  to  have  greater  weight  with  the  court  than  those  of  con¬ 
demned  felons,  proved  by  their  own  confessions  to  be  persons 
of  base  character,  and  whom  he  had  no  opportunity  of  cross  ex¬ 
amining.  The  peers  found  him  guilty. 

When  we  look  even  at  the  report  of  Somerset’s  trial,  which 


233 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


was  published  to  the  world  by  those  who  were  far  from  being 
friends  to  him,  we  are  struck  with  the  unsatisfactory  character 
of  the  evidence  upon  which  he  was  condemned.  But  our  aston¬ 
ishment  is  increased  when  we  read  the  original  depositions  of 
the  pretended  agents,  many  of  which  are  fortunately  preserved 
in  the  state  paper  office,  and  are  now,  for  the  first  time,  pub¬ 
lished  by  Mr.  Amos.  We  there  find  these  witnesses,  in  state¬ 
ments  drawn  from  them,  it  would  appear,  by  the  most  unworthy 
means,  contradicting  one  another,  and  contradicting  themselves  ; 
so  much  so  that  these  papers  would  lead  us  almost  necessarily 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  was  no  poisoning  at  all.  ’  They  are 
mostly  in  the  handwriting  of  Coke,  who  directed  the  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  persons  accused,  and  are  covered  with  notes  and 
erasures  by  Bacon,  who  conducted,  under  the  immediate  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  king,  the  prosecution  ;  and  we  discover  from  these 
notes,  and  from  a  comparison  of  the  extracts  read  in  court  at  the 
trial,  that  Bacon  not  only  suppressed  carefully  everything  that 
would  tell  in  favor  of  the  earl  of  Somerset,  but  that  he  altered 
phrases  and  falsified  the  original  in  order  to  make  a  direct  ac¬ 
cusation  of  what  in  that  original  was  little  better  than  a  supposi¬ 
tion. 

It  is  clear  from  the  original  depositions  that  Sir  Thomas  Over¬ 
bury  was  either  not  poisoned,  or  that  he  must  have  been  poisoned 
by  the  king’s  own  physician,  who  constantly  attended  upon  him 
in  the  Tower.  This  is  a  very  important  circumstance,  and  was 
entirely  concealed  from  the  public.  In  fact,  during  the  whole 
course  of  proceedings  in  this  strange  affair,  no  attempt  was  made 
to  prove  that  Overbury  did  die  of  poison,  but  that  w7as  taken  as 
an  acknowledged  fact.  The  king  and  the  public  prosecutors 
seem  to  have  acted  on  the  mere  personal  conviction  that  such 
was  the  case.  The  king’s  physician,  Mayerne,  who,  as  we 
have  said,  had  attended  'on  the  deceased,  and  prescribed  con¬ 
stantly  for  him,  was  not  examined  at  all,  nor  were  any  medical 
men  brought  forward  to  give  an  opinion  on  the  cause  which  had 
produced  death.  It  is  proved  by  the  depositions  in  the  state 
paper  office,  that  an  inquest  was  held  on  the  body,  that  his 
friends  were  permitted  to  visit  it,  and  that  no  particular  secrecy 
was  observed;  yet  not  only  were  no  physicians  brought  forward 
on  the  trial  to  state  if  any  marks  of  the  presence  .of  poison  had 
been  observed  on  the  body,  but  the  depositions  on  this  subject 
were  concealed,  and  it  was  represented  falsely  that  the  body  had 
been  buried  hastily  and  privately,  and  that  Overbury’s  friends 
had  not  been  allowed  access  to  it.  Several  persons  wTho  might 


MYSTERIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  THE  TRIAL. 


239 


have  given  important  evidence  on  the  trial,  had  mere  truth  been 
sought,  were  certainly  kept  out  of  the  way. 

Mr.  Amos  points  out  the  improbability  of  the  whole  story  of 
the  poisoning,  as  it  was  made  the  groundwork  of  the  trial,  and 
we  may  fairly  doubt  if  it  were  not  a  fiction  to  cover  circumstan¬ 
ces  which  could  not  safely  be  revealed.  We  learn  from  the  nar¬ 
rative  of  Sir  Anthony  Weldon,  that  Franklin,  one  of  the  minor 
agents,  confessed  that  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  was  smothered  by 
him  and  Weston,  and  was  not  poisoned.  “The  suspicious  cir¬ 
cumstance  that  none  of  Franklin’s  examinations  taken  before  his 
trial  are  forthcoming,  gives  some  countenance  to  this  report.” 
Mr.  Amos’s  book  contains  a  mass  of  evidence  on  this  and  other 
points  which  my  space  will  not  allow  me  to  transfer  to  this  re¬ 
view  of  the  subject. 

It  must  be  confessed  that,  even  with  the  important  additional 
evidence  thus  brought  to  light,  the  history  of  Sir  Thomas  Over- 
bury’s  murder  is  still  clouded  in  mystery.  The  conclusion  to 
which  we  are  naturally  led  by  the  foregoing  facts  is,  that  any 
satisfactory  evidence  which  could  have  been  brought  forward 
would  have  involved  other  accomplices,  whose  names  it  was  ne¬ 
cessary  to  keep  carefully  from  public  suspicion,  and  that  the  real 
object  of  the  prosecution  was  the  ruin  and  disgrace  of  the  favor¬ 
ite,  whom  at  last  James,  actuated  by  fear  or  some  other  motive, 
did  not  sacrifice  to  the  utmost  extent  of  the  wishes  of  his  ene¬ 
mies.  1  he  presumption  is  indeed  strong  that  the  murder  was 
authorized  by  King  James  himself.  This  supposition,  at  least, 
explains  various  circumstances  which  are  otherwise  totally  inex¬ 
plicable.  We  thus  understand  why  the  minor  agents  in  the  plot, 
and  especially  the  unfortunate  lieutenant  of  the  Tower  (Sir  Ger¬ 
ais  Helwysse),  and  Overbury’s  jailer,  Weston,  were  so  summa¬ 
rily  despatched  out  of  the  world.  We  thus  understand  the  tam¬ 
pering  with  their  depositions,  which,  with  all  the  arrangements 
for  the  trial,  were  made  according  to  the  king’s  own  directions. 
And  still  more,  we  understand  James’s  anxiety  to  prevent  Som¬ 
erset’s  anticipated  revelations. 

With  this  new  view  of  the  subject,  we  are  led  further  to  ask 
for  a  reason  for  this  extraordinary  state  murder,  and  here  at 
present  we  are  left  entirely  to  conjecture.  The  common  story 
that  Overbury’s  murder  was  a  mere  act  of  revenge  for  his  oppo¬ 
sition  to  the  marriage  of  Somerset  with  the  countess  of  Essex, 
has  always  appeared  to  me  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  improba¬ 
ble,  when  we  consider  the  part  he  appears  to  have  previously 
acted  in  promoting  Somerset’s  amours,  and  the  part  which  ho 


240 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


knew  the  king  was  acting  in  promoting  the  marriage.  It  now 
appears  in  the  light  of  a  cover  for  some  other  transactions,  in¬ 
vented  probably  by  the  king,  but  in  which  Somerset  acquiesced 
in  the  trial,  because  it  did  not  necessarily  involve  his  own  guilt 
(as  he  only  acknowledged  to  having  been  the  means  of  sending 
Overbury  to  the  Tower),  and  because  he  could  not  confute  it 
without  making  revelations  which  he  had  then  determined  not  to 
make.  It  is  certain  from  passages  of  contemporary  letters  and 
papers,  that,  at  the  time  when  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  was  com¬ 
mitted  to  the  Tower,  no  such  excuse  for  his  committal  was  talked 
of,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  looked  upon  generally  as  a 
mysterious  transaction  in  which  the  favorite  had  no  direct  share, 
except  that  some  persons  imagined  that  the  anger  of  the  king  to¬ 
ward  his  friend  portended  a  diminution  in  the  influence  of  the 
favorite  himself.  A  Mr.  Packer,  in  a  letter  from  the  court  to 
Sir  Ralph  Winwood,  dated  April  22,  1613,  mentions  that  the 
king  sent  the  lord-chancellor  and  Lord  Pembroke  to  offer  an 
“  embassage”  to  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  which  Sir  Thomas  im¬ 
mediately  refused,  and  that,  some  said,  “  he  added  some  other 
speech  which  was  very  ill  taken,”  and  that  thereupon  the  king 
sent  for  the  council,  and  after  making  an  angry  speech,  gave 
orders  to  them  to  send  Overbury  to  prison.  Other  reasons  were 
also  suggested.  A  courtier,  in  a  letter  dated  the  6th  of  May, 
1613,  writes,  “Some  say,  Lord  Rochester  took  Sir  T.  Over- 
bury’s  committing  to  heart.  Others  talk  as  if  it  were  a  great 
diminution  of  his  favor  and  credit,  which  the  king  doubting, 
would  not  have  it  so  construed ;  but  the  next  day  told  the  council 
that  he  meant  him  more  grace  and  favor,  as  should  be  seen  in  a 
short  time,  and  that  he  took  more  delight  and  contentment  in- his 
company  and  conversation  than  in  any  man’s  living.”  On  the 
27th  of  May,  1613,  Sir  H.  Weston  writes:  “  Sir  Thomas  Over¬ 
bury  is  still  where  he  was  (in  the  Tower),  and  as  he  was,  with¬ 
out  any  alteration  ;  the  viscount  Rochester  no  way  sinking  in 
point  of  favor,  which  are  two  strange  consistents.”  The  earl 
of  Southampton,  writing  to  Sir  Ralph  Winwood,  on  the  4th  of 
August,  1613,  says,  “  And  much  ado  there  hath  been  to  keep  Sir 
Thomas  Overbury  from  a  public  censure  of  banishment  and  loss 
of  office,  such  a  rooted  hatred  lyeth  in  the  king's  heart  toward  him. 

The  most  probable  supposition  that  we  can  make  is,  that 
Overbury  was  possessed  of  important  royal  secrets,  which  the 
king  had  reasons  for  fearing  he  might  disclose,  or  that  he  had 
been  a  participator  in  crimes  or  vices  which  made  him  a  danger¬ 
ous  person.  According  to  hints  thrown  out  by  Mr.  Amos,  the  dis- 


LA  MARECHALE  D’ANCRE. 


241 


covery  of  the  secret  would,  perhaps,  reveal  scenes  of  royal  de¬ 
pravity  which  it  were  as  well  should  remain  unknown.  It  is 
certain  that  there  was  at  the  time  an  opinion  abroad,  that  Sir 
Thomas  Overbury  had  been  an  agent  in  evil  deeds.  He  was 
even  very  commonly  suspected  of  having  had  some  hand  in  pro¬ 
curing  the  death  of  Prince  Henry,  who  was  far  from  being  a 
favorite  with  his  father,  who  hated  the  favorite,  and  who  was 
popularly  believed  to  have  been  poisoned.  There  are  a  few 
very  remarkable  passages  in  the  papers  of  the  time,  relating  to 
this  event,  which  certainly,  when  put  together,  tend  to  raise  sus¬ 
picion,  and  Sir  Edward  Coke  excited  the  king’s  anger  to  the 
highest  degree,  and  was  the  cause  of  Sir  Thomas  Monson’s 
trial  being  abruptly  put  a  stop  to,  by  an  unguarded  expression  in 
court,  which  alluded  to  those  suspicions  against  Overbury,  and 
which  it  is  said  that  James  never  forgave. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

LA  MARECHALE  D’ANCRE. 

While  this  tragedy  was  acting  in  England,  a  somewhat  simi¬ 
lar  one,  though  under  different  circumstances,  was  in  progress 
in  France. 

On  the  death  of  Henri  IV.,  slain  by  the  assassin  Ravaillac  in 
1610,  his  son,  Louis  XIII.  being  but  a  child,  the  royal  power 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  queen  mother,  Marie  de  Medicis. 
Among  the  servants  attached  to  Marie  before  her  marriage,  was 
a  woman  of  extraordinary  address  and  talent,  the  daughter  of 
Marie’s  nurse,  named  Eleonora  Dori,  or,  a  name  she  adopted 
afterward,  Eleonora  Galigai.  She  soon  became  a  great  favor¬ 
ite  with  her  mistress,  whom  she  accompanied  into  France  as  a 
confidential  attendant,  and  she  gradually  gained  an  unbounded 
influence  over  Henri’s  queen.  One  of  the  gentlemen  followers 
of  the  queen  was  a  Florentine,  named  Concino  Concini,  whose 
grandfather  was  secretary  to  the  grand  duke  Cosmo,  but  the 
property  he  had  scraped  together  was  dissipated  by  his  chil¬ 
dren,  and  Concino,  who  had  passed  his  youth  so  wildly  that  it  is 
said  to  have  become  almost  proverbial  for  parents  to  warn  their 
children  of  his  example,  was  in  indigent  circumstances.  In 
consequence  of  this,  he  went  to  seek  his  fortune  at  Rome,  where 

21 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


he  entered  the  service  of  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  who  was  then 
there,  but  he  did  not  return  with  him  to  France.  On  the  mar¬ 
riage  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  he  obtained,  as  has  just  been  stated,  a 
place  in  her  household,  and  seeing  the  influence  of  Eleonora 
Galigai,  he  paid  his  court  to  her,  and,  with  the  queen’s  approba¬ 
tion,  married  her.  The  king  is  said  to  have  looked  on  Concini 
with  disfavor,  and  to  have  been  opposed  to  the  marriage. 

When  Marie  de  Medicis  became  ruler  of  France,  the  influence 
of  Concini  and  his  wife  was  immediately  apparent.  She  was  a 
woman  of  intelligence  and  prudence,  but  her  husband  was  bold 
and  hardy  of  temper,  ambitious  and  overbearing,  and  was  never 
at  rest  till  he  made  his  influence  apparent  to  every  one.  His 
insolence  increased  with  the  queen’s  power,  and  he  exhibited  it 
in  an  offensive  manner  toward  the  old  French  nobles  of  the 
court  of  the  great  Henri.  These  frequently  leagued  together 
against  him,  and  had  recourse  to  arms,  but  having  the  power  of 
the  state  at  his  command,  he  proceeded  against  them  as  rebels, 
and  forced  them  to  submission.  Thus  the  period  while  the  Con¬ 
cini  were  in  power  was  for  France  a  time  of  turbulence  and  dis¬ 
tress. 

Immediately  after  the  king’s  death,  Concini  Avas  made  first 
gentleman  of  the  chamber,  and  was  rewarded  with  other  lucra¬ 
tive  posts.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  purchase  the  marquisate  of 
Ancre,  in  Picardy,  which  title  he  now  assumed.  In  1613,  the 
marquis  d’ Ancre  was  for  a  short  time  in  disfaAror,  but  he  was 
soon  restored,  and  then  he  Avas  created  marechal  of  France. 
With  all  these  dignities,  he  also  held  the  important  office  of 
governor  of  Nonnandy. 

In  1615,  the  nobles,  irritated  at  the  manner  in  Avhich  they  were 
treated  by  one  whom  they  looked  on  as  a  mere  upstart,  and  who 
had  no  talents  to  support  his  influence,  which  he  owed  only  to 
his  wife  and  to  his  own  deArotion  to  the  service  of  the  queen, 
were  already  plotting  his  overthrow;  and  although  they  then 
failed,  they  were  indefatigable  in  their  efforts  to  aggravate  the 
populace  and  men  of  all  ranks  against  him.  During  this  and  the 
following  years  his  unpopularity  increased  daily.  In  1616,  he 
offered  an  unnecessary  and  unwise  provocation  to  the  Parisians. 
A  citizen  named  Picard  had  the  command  of  the  Avatch,  at  the 
gate  of  Bussy,  one  night,  when  the  queen’s  Italian  minister  Avas 
passing  that  way  with  his  carriage.  Picard,  urged  probably  by 
the  general  dislike  which  the  people  of  Paris  bore  to  the  mare¬ 
chal  d’Ancre,  refused  to  open  the  gate  till  the  latter  had  shown 
his  passport.  The  marechal  ordered  two  of  his  valets  to  seize 


CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  THE  MAREOHAL. 


243 


Picard,  and  administer  a  severe  beating  to  him,  as  a  punishment 
for  the  affront.  The  populace  rose,  seized  the  two  valets,  and 
hanged  them  on  two  gallows  at  the  door  of  Picard’s  house,  who 
from  this  moment  became  a  hero  among  the  Parisians. 

Although  the  marechal’s  wife  was  more  cautious  of  giving  per¬ 
sonal  oflence,  her  manners  and  character  were  equally "unpopular. 
She  was  eccentric,  loved  to  live  apart  from  the  world,  and  was 
ot  a  suspicious  and  unsociable- temper.  She  was,  moreover,  su¬ 
perstitious,  and  attributed  her  constant  state  of  ill-health  to’  the 
ellects  of  sorcery.  She  caused  herself  frequently  to  be  exorcised 
by  Italian  priests,  and  always  had  her  face  veiled  in  public  to 
scieen  her  from  the  gaze  of  i  guar datori,  as  she  expressed  it, — 
against  the  influence  of  the  evil  eye.  These  peculiarities,  joined 
with  the  belief  that  she  principally  ruled  the  queen-mother,  made 
her  equally  with  her  husband  an  object  of  popular  odium.  Peo¬ 
ple  accused  her  of  practising  the  very  sorcery  which  she  suspect¬ 
ed  m  others,  and  it  was  widely  believed  that  she  had  bewitched 
the  queen. 

1  he  marechal  had  two  children  by  his  wife,  a  son  and  a 
daughter.  The  latter  died  in  1616,  to  the  great  grief  of  her  pa- 
lents  ;  her  father  is  said  to  have  looked  upon  this  blow  to  his 
affections  as  a  warning  from  above  that  his  own  fall  was  ap¬ 
proaching,  and  his  apprehensions  were  so  great,  that  he  proposed 
to  his  wife  to  retire  from  political  life,  and  take  refuge  in  Italy. 
Put  she  was  confident  in  her  influence  with  the  queen,  and  per¬ 
suaded  him  to  stay.  1 

As  the  period  of  the  favorite’s  downfall  approached,  people 
became  bolder  in  their  attacks  upon  both,  and  less  reserved  in 
their  speech.  Scandalous  anecdotes  were  sent  abroad,  and  bitter 
and  angry  epigrams  were  published  in  abundance.  People  as¬ 
sailed  them  in  coarse  puns  on  the  words  ancre  and  encre ,  and 
these  were  even  uttered  in  the  queen’s  presence.  It  is  reported, 
that  when  one  day  the  queen-mother  said  to  one  of  her  attend¬ 
ants,  “  Apportez-moi  mon  voile,”  the  Comte  du  Lude,  who  was 
standing  by,  remarked,  with  a  smile,  “  XJn  navire  qui  est  a  l’Ancre 
n'a  pas  autrement  besoin  de  voiles.” 

It  was  to  one  who  had  risen  into  importance  at  court  partly 
by  his  favor,  Charles  d’Albert,  due  de  Luynes,  that  the  marechal 
d  Ancre  eventually  owed  his  fall.  This  nobleman  saw  that  his 
own  power  would  be  the  immediate  consequence  of  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  his  rival.  He  nourished  in  every  possible  way  the  pop¬ 
ular  feeling  against  him,  and  he  instilled  all  sorts  of  suspicions 
into  the  mind  of  the  young  king.  The  latter  was  getting  tired 


214 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


of  his  mother’s  rule,  and  the  restraint  in  which  he  was  held  by 
her  minister,  and  though  still  not  much  more  than  a  child,  he  was 
anxious  to  assume  the  reins  of  government.  He  therefore  en¬ 
tered  eagerly  into  the  conspiracy;  and  when  the  duke  and  the 
other  conspirators  saw  their  time  was  come,  they  strengthened 
the  king’s  resolution  by  dark  insinuations  that  the  minister  was 
meditating  the  destruction  of  his  royal  person,  as  a  means  of 
rendering  his  own  influence  perpetual. 

Even  with  the  king’s  authority,  the  enemies  of  the  marechal 
d’Ancre  did  not  dare  to  attack  their  victim  in  a  fair  and  open 
way,  but  it  was  resolved  to  effect  their  object  by  assassination. 
For  this  purpose  they  took  into  their  confidence  the  Baron  de 
Vitry,  D’Ancre’s  bitterest  personal  enemy,  and  his  brother  Du 
Hallier,  and  the  king  not  only  authorized  them  to  commit  the 
murder,  but  promised  to  reward  Vitry  with  the  marechal’s  staff. 
Some  other  desperate  characters  were  joined  with  them. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  April,  1617,  "the  king  rose  early 
in  the  morning  and  announced  a  parti  de  chasse.  Preparations 
were  immediately  made,  and  the  horses  and  carriages  brought 
out.  Under  cover  of  this  announcement,  Vitry,  Du  Plallier,  and 
their  fellow-assassins,  were  collected  within  the  gateway  of  the 
palace.  The  marechal  d’Ancre  had  not  himself  apartments  in 
the  Louvre,  but  he  lodged  in  a  house  which  formed  what  was 
called  the  capatainerie  of  the  Louvre,  at  the  end  of  the  garden 
toward  the  present  Rue  du  Coq,  where  this  garden  was  entered 
by  a  little  bridge  which  was  called  popularly  the  Pont  d’Amour. 
A  person  was  placed  to  watch  this  bridge,  while  the  conspirators 
waited  for  the  signal  to  inform  them  that  the  marechal  was  in 
view.  This  signal  was  given  about  ten  o’clock  in  the  forenoon, 
and  the  conspirators  overtook  their  victim  as  he  was  entering 
upon  the  Pont  du  Louvre.  The  Baron  de  Vitry  was  so  fierce 
and  eager  that  he  passed  the  marechal  before  he  was  aware  of 
him,  and  was  called  back  by  his  brother  Du  Hallier.  One  or 
two  pistols  were  then  discharged  at  him,  on  which  he  fell 
wounded,  and  they  instantly  despatched  him  with  their  swords. 

The  young  king,  in  the  utmost  anxiety,  had  seized  his  arque- 
buse,  and  he  now  came  forward  to  the  window  to  encourage  the 
assassins,  shouting  out  publicly,  “  I  thank  you,  gentlemen  :  now 
I  am  king  indeed!”  The  persons  to  whom  these  words  were 
addressed  had  the  baseness  not  only  to  share  the  plunder  of  the 
marechal’s  person,  but  they  afterward  disputed  the  merit  of  having 
struck  the  first  blow,  for  the  sake  of  the  reward.  When  the  mare- 
chale  heard  of  her  husband’s  fate,  she  hurried  to  her  chamber,  un- 


OUTRAGES  ON  THE  MARECHAL’S  BODY. 


245 


dressed  herself,  and  went  to  bed,  hiding  under  her  her  own  jew¬ 
els,  and  the  jewels  of  the  crown,  which  were  intrusted  to  her 
care,  to  save  them.  But  the  assassins  came  and,  dragging  her 
roughly  out  of  her  bed,  carried  off  all  the  jewelry  and  whatever 
they  found  in  the  room  of  value,  as  lawful  plunder.  The  same 
day  the  king  gave  D’Ancre’s  staff  of  marechal  to  the  baron  de 
Vi  try,  and  the  others  were  all  largely  recompensed.  The  es¬ 
tates  of  the  Concinis  were  granted  to  the  due  de  Luynes.  The 
queen-mother  saw  that  her  government  was  at  an  end,  and  she 
quietly  resigned  herself  to  her  fate  ;  she  was  exiled  from  court, 
and  sent  to  reside  at  Blois. 

1  he  marechal’s  enemies  at  court  had  now  had  their  triumph, 
and  it  remained  only  for  the  populace  to  take  theirs.  The  body 
of  the  murdered  favorite  had  been  carried  off  by  some  of  his  fol¬ 
lowers,  and  was  buried  secretly  and  by  night  in  the  church  of 
St.  Germain  l’Auxerrois.  Next  morning  some  traitor  gave  in¬ 
formation  to  the  Parisians,  and  pointed  out  the  place  where  he 
was  interred.  The  populace  rose  tumultuously,  hurried  to  the 
church,  and,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  guardians  of  the 
church,  who  appealed  to  their  respect  for  the  dead,  they  forced 
their  way  in,  broke  up  the  floor,  and  tearing  open  the  grave — it 
was  said,  with  their  finger-nails  broke  the  coffin,  and  drew  the 
body  naked  into  the  street.  There  they  dragged  it  along  fero¬ 
ciously  through  mud  and  dirt,  till  they  reached  the  head  of  the 
Pont  Neuf,  where  stood  a  gallows,  which  had  been  erected  by 
the  marechal’s  orders.  They  suspended  the  corpse  on  this  gal¬ 
lows  and  let  it  hang  there  a  short  time,  during  which  they  cut 
off  the  nose  and  ears,  and  otherwise  mutilated  it,  with  horrible 
curses  and  vociferations,  obliging  everybody  they  met  to  join  in 
shouting,  vive  le  roi !  Then  they  took  it  down,  and  dragged  it 
to  the  bronze  statue  of  Henri  IV.,  where  it  was  passed  through 
a  fire,  which  had  been  hastily  made  for  the  purpose.  Thence 
the  mob,  continually  increasing  in  numbers  and  ferocity,  dragged 
the  body  to  the  place  before  the  hotel  of  the  marechal,  in  the 
faubourg  St.  Germain,  where  they  repeated  their  outrages,  beat¬ 
ing  the  corpse  with  stones  and  sticks,  amid  the  most  horrible 
yells  and  screams.  The  same  scene  was  repeated  in  front  of 
the  marechal’s  lodgings  at  the  Louvre.  It  is  said  that  the  king, 
who  was  looking  on  from  the  balcony  of  the  Louvre,  encouraged 
the  mob.  After  similar  exhibitions  in  all  the  public  places  of 
Paris,  the  mutilated  and  disfigured  body  was  at  last  carried  to 
the  place  of  the  Greve,  where  a  large  fire  was  ready  to  receive 
it.  The  populace  had  become  savage  with  drink,  and  before  the 

21* 


246 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


remains  of  the  marechal  were  committed  to  the  flames,  the  flesh 
was  torn  in  shreds  from  the  bones  in  the  struggles  of  individuals 
to  obtain  a  portion  to  carry  home  and  burn  at  their  own  houses. 
It  was  reported  that  people  had  obtained  higdi  prices  for  sheep’s 
kidneys,  under  the  pretence  that  they  were  the  kidneys  of  the 
marechal  de  l’Ancre. 

The  due  de  Luynes  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  government, 
and  he  determined  to  complete  his  work  by  the  destruction  of 
the  marechale.  On  the  29th  of  April  she  was  committed  to  the 
Bastile,  where  she  was  treated  with  cruelty  and  insult.  Her 
son,  a  mere  child,  was  also  thrown  into  prison,  after  having  been 
stripped  naked,  and  it  is  said  he  was  left  a  whole  day  without 
clothes  or  food.  When  at  length  inquiries  were  made  after  him, 
so  great  was  the  inhumanity  of  the  enemies  of  the  late  favorite, 
that  some  of  the  principal  ladies  of  the  court  had  the  boy  brought 
before  them  to  dance  a  sarabande,  a  dance  in  which  he  was  said 
to  excel. 

Meanwhile  no  means  were  neglected  to  vilify  the  name  of  the 
favorite,  and  prejudice  people  against  his  widow.  Writers  were 
employed  to  traduce  them  both ;  numerous  pamphlets  were  pub¬ 
lished,  detailing  the  insolence  of  the  marechal,  and  the  sorceries 
of  the  marechale  ;  they  were  both  made  the  subject  of  indecent 
raillery ;  brutal  and  licentious  songs  and  epigrams  were  com¬ 
posed,*  in  many  of  which  the  Parisians  were  invited  to  treat  the 
widow  as  they  had  treated  her  husband. 

*  The  following  is  one  of  the  more  temperate  of  these  effusions : — 

A  LA  MEM01RE  DE  LA  MARQUISE  ET  DU  MARQUIS. 

L’on  parle  d’une  marquise 
Et  du  coyon  Florentin, 

Q.ui  eut  pour  son  entreprise 
Le  royaume  de  Pantin. 

S’elle  estoit  bonne  sorciere, 

Ainsi  que  chaeun  croyoit, 

Au  lieu  d’estre  prisonniere, 

Maintenant  elle  riroit. 

Mais  sa  finesse  et  ses  charmes 
Cine  deux  monstres  de  l’enfer 
N’ont  peu  emposeber  les  armes 
Vedgeressa  des  coyons. 

Anssi  n’est-il  pas  propice, 

Gue  deux  monstres  de  l’enfer 
S'opposent  a  la  justice 
Taut  des  flames  que  du  fer. 

t  As  in  the  following  sample: — 

SUR  LA  SORCIERE  DE  CONCHINE. 

C'est  assez,  e'est  assez,  execrable  Megere, 

Infernalle  furie,  engeuce  de  vipere, 


THE  MARECIIALE  ACCUSED  OF  SORCERY. 


247 


The  only  accusations  brought  against  the  marechale  d’Ancre  at 
her  trial,  were  those  ol  being  a  witch,  of  holding  communication 
with  witches,  and  of  having  bewitched  the  queen-mother.  The 
proofs  were  her  familiar  intercourse  with  Montalto,  the  Jew  phy¬ 
sician  who  had  accompanied  Marie  de  Medicis  from  Italy,  the 
exorcisms  to  which  she  had  subjected  herself  as  a  defence  against 
the  witchcraft  to  which  she  believed  herself  exposed,  and  which 
were  performed  by  Italian  priests  in  the  church  of  the  Augustins, 
and  the  extraordinary  influence  she  had  always  exerted  over  the 
queen  It  appears  that  at  times,  when  suffering  from  dreadful 
pains  in  the  head,  the  fancy  or  the  superstition  of  her  medical 
attendants  had  ordered  the  application  of  a  newly-killed  cock,  or 
other  bird,  and  this  was  now  represented  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  de¬ 
mons.  Her  retired  and  in  many  cases  strange  manners  were 
also  cited  against  her.  She  often  sat  alone,  strangely  pensive 
and  abstracted,  and  at  such  times  it  was  her  habit  to  continue 
rolling  bits  of  wax  between  her  fingers  until  they  assumed  the 
form  of  little  bullets,  which  she  threw  into  a  coffer  that  lay  by 
her.  When  her  room  was  searched,  after  her  arrest,  a  number 
of  coffers  filled  with  these  bullets  of  wax  were  found,  and  these 
were  taken  for  corroborative' evidence  that  she  was  a  sorcerer.' 
It  was  looked  upon  as  a  circumstance  of  more  importance  that 
the  astrological  nativities  of  the  queen  and  her  children,  carefully 
drawn  up,  were  found  in  her  possession  ;  these,  which,  in  truth 
only  showed  the  interest  the  favorite  took  in  the  fate  of  the  royal 
family,  were  looked  upon  as  instruments  of  sorcery.  It  was 
further  reported  abroad,  to  increase  the  popular  hatred,  that  they 
found  in  her  cabinet  a  quantity  of  books  of  magic,  with  virgin 
parchment,  and  a  great  number  of  magical  characters.* 

On  several  occasions  between  the  end  of  April  and  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  July,  the  marechale  was  put  to  the  torture,  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  compelling  her  to  confess  that  she  had  bewitched  the 
queen-mother,  but  she  bore  it  all  with  firmness.  It  is  said,  that 
when  asked  what  were  the  charms  she  used  to  gain  possession 
of  the  queen’s  affections,  she  replied  proudly,  that  it  was  but  the 
power  of  a  weak  mind  over  a  strong  one.  The  proofs  against 
her  were,  however,  pronounced  to  be  sufficient  to  convict  her  of 

D’avoir  desus  la  France  vomy  tant  de  venin  ! 

Peuple,  dressbs  un  feu,  pour  brusler  la  sorciere  ; 

Jett.6s  la  cendre  au  vent,  escartbs  la  poussiere, 

Glu’on  luy  fasse  de  mesine  qu’on  a  faict  au  faquin. 

*  One  of  the  scurrilous  pamphlets  published  after  the  assassination  of  the  mar6- 
chal  d’Ancre,  under  the  title  of  “  La  Medee  de  la  France,  depeinte  en  la  personne 
de  la  marquise  d’Ancre,”  tells  us,  “  Us  ont  trouve  dans  son  cabinet  quantite  de  livres 
de  ntagie,  du  parcliemin  vierge,  et  grand  nombre  de  caracteres." 


248 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  crime  of  high  treason,  and  she  was  condemned  to  be  behead¬ 
ed,  and  then  burnt,  her  house  to  be  razed  to  the  ground,  and  all 
her  blood  struck  with  incapacity. 

The  marechale  d’Ancre  expected  that  the  utmost  severity  she 
had  to  expect  was  banishment  and  confiscation  of  her  property, 
and  when  she  heard  her  sentence,  she  was  struck  with  the  ut¬ 
most  astonishment,  cried  out  repeatedly  in  her  distress,  “  Oime 
povretta !”  and  declared  in  arrest  of  judgment  that  she  was  with 
child.  This  plea,  however,  she  immediately  retracted ;  and 
when  she  was  led  to  execution  on  the  8th  of  July,  she  submitted 
to  her  fate  with  firmness  and  resignation.  The  fury  of  the  Pa¬ 
risian  mob  had  itself  abated,  and  the  hated  Italian  favorite  be¬ 
came  on  the  scaffold  an  object  of  general  commiseration. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

LOUIS  GAUFRIDI. 

The  belief  in  witchcraft  was  at  this  time  turned  to  a  new  pur¬ 
pose  by  the  Romish  priesthood.  They  had  long  claimed  exclu¬ 
sively  for  the  church  of  Rome  a  transcendental  authority  and 
power  which  they  were  fain,  in  their  present  contest  with  the 
protestant  reformers,  to  support  with  pretended  miracles  ;  and  the 
belief  which  gained  ground  in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  that  people  under  the  influence  of  witchcraft  were  possessed 
with  demons  in  the  same  manner  as  the  demoniacs  of  the  New 
Testament,  was  too  favorable  to  their  plans  to  be  neglected. 
Perhaps  a  great  number  of  the  catholic  clergy  believed  consci¬ 
entiously  in  the  reality  of  these  possessions,  but  in  the  more  re¬ 
markable  cases  which  have  been  chronicled,  the  patients  were 
evidently  persons  tutored  for  the  occasion  ;  and  upon  the  evidence 
of  such  people  men  of  character  were  hurried  to  the  gallows  or 
the  stake. 

There  were  many  of  these  pretended  cases  of  obsession  in 
England,  but  they  were  generally  discouraged  by  the  church, 
and  were  in  most  cases  detected  and  exposed.  In  1575,  a  wo¬ 
man  of  Westwell,  in  Kent,  named  Mildred  Nerrington,  pretend¬ 
ed  to  be  possessed,  and  accused  a  poor  old  woman  of  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  having  sent  a  devil  into  her.  The  affair  went  so  far, 
that  the  vicar  of  the  parish,  with  a  neighboring  clergyman,  be- 


POPISH  EXORCISE  RS. 


249 


lieved  that  they  had  expelled  the  demon  by  their  prayers,  and 
pi  inted  a  1  elation  ol  it.  1  he  civil  power  in  this  case  was  more 
effectual  in  establishing  truth  than  the  ecclesiastical,  for  the  pre¬ 
tended  demoniac  confessed  before  two  justices  of  the  peace  that 
it  was  an  imposture,  and  she  explained  the  way  in  which  she 
had  deceived  the  two  clergymen.  In  1579,  a  Welch  girl,  named 
Elizabeth  Orton,  pretended  to  fall  into  trances,  and  see  visions, 
which  were  published  with  great  solemnity  by  some  Roman 
catholic  priests  ;  but  she  also  was  detected,  and  made  a  public 
confession  in  Chester  cathedral.  Two  years  afterward,  another 
case  of  pretended  demoniacs,  in  which  some  Jesuits  were  impli¬ 
cated,  was  similarly  exposed.  In  1598,  a  protestant  clergyman, 
named  William  Darrell,  made  a  great,  noise  by  his  pretended 
dispossessing  of  demoniacs  in  Nottinghamshire;  but  his  practice 
also  ended  in  exposure.  With  a  view  to  such  cases,  which  were 
multiplying  alarmingly,  the  convocation  of  the  clergy,  in  the  first 
year  of  King  James,  made  a  canon,  “  that  no  minister  or  minis¬ 
ters,  without  license  and  direction  of  the  bishop,  under  his  hand 
and  seal  obtained,  attempt,  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  either 
of  possession  or  obsession,  by  fasting  and  prayer,  to  cast  out  any 
devil  or  devils,  under  pain  of  the  imputation  of  imposture  or  coz¬ 
enage,  or  deposition  from  the  ministry.” 

Such  cases  were  differently  treated  by  the  church  in  coun¬ 
tries  where  the  Romish  faith  was  established,  and  where,  though 
many  of  the  more  honest  and  better  informed  of  the  popish  clergy 
regarded  them  at  least  with  suspicion,  they  were  encouraged. by 
the  teaching  and  example  of  those  who  were  looked  upon  as  the 
greatest  authorities.  Solemn  forms  oi  invocation  were  composed 
for  the  purpose  of  exorcising  the  demons,  and  driving  them  away 
from  their  victims  ;  and  these  were  as  various  and  as  supersti¬ 
tious  as  the  charms  of  the  magicians.  The  grand  authority  on 
this  subject  was  an  Italian  ecclesiastic  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
named  Geronimo  Mengi,  who  published  two  collections  of  these 
exorcisms,  which  in  the  Latin  edition  are  entitled  Flagellum  Dgr- 
monutn,  the  whip  or  scourge  of  demons,  and  Fastis  Dmmtmum,  a 
club  for  the  demons.  In  the  introductory  chapters  of  these  books, 
the  author  describes  the  manner  in  which  the  exorcist  was  to 
prepare  for  his  important  office,  treats  of  the  nature  of  the  evil 
beings  with  whom  he  was  to  deal,  and  warns  him  against  their 
cunning  and  tergiversation.  Among  other  things,  he  discusses 
the  question  whether  it  be  lawful  to  make  use  of  insulting  lan¬ 
guage  to  the  demons,  and  he  resolves  it  in  the  affirmative.  An¬ 
other  recommendation  of  this  author  shows  the  spirit  of  the 


250 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


whole — the  demons  were  to  be  compelled  to  give  some  open 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  Romish  faith.  Sometimes,  he  says, 
the  demons  are  very  obstinate,  but  the  exorciser  was  to  perse¬ 
vere  day  after  day  with  great  patience,  and,  above  all,  he  was  to 
endeavor  to  obtain  possession  of  the  instruments  of  sorcery, 
which  being  burnt,  would  greatly  weaken  the  power  of  the  evil 
one.  Finally,  he  directs  that  the  demoniacs  should,  if  possible, 
be  exorcised  in  an  open  church,  before  as  large  a  congregation 
of  people  as  possible. 

These  doctrines  became  in  France  and  other  countries  the 
groundwork  for  extraordinary  cases  of  individual  persecution,  of 
which  the  one  I  am  now  going  to  relate  was  not  the  least  re¬ 
markable. 

At  Aix,  in  Provence,  there  was  a  convent  of  Ursuline  nuns. 
It  was  one  of  the  poorest  of  the  monastic  orders  of  females,  for 
which  reason  they  were  allowed  several  ways  of  gaining  a  live¬ 
lihood  ;  and  they  seem  to  have  been  easily  made  the  tools  of  the 
priests.  Among  the  Ursulines  of  Aix  there  was,  in  the  year  1610, 
a  young  lady  named  Magdalen  de  la  Palude,  who  appears  then 
to  have  been  a  new  convert.  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  sieur 
de  la  Palude,  a  Provenqal  gentleman,  who  lived  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  Marseilles.  Magdalen  had  not  been  long  among  the  sis¬ 
ters  of  St.  Ursula  before  she  was  seized  with  trances,  and  these 
soon  communicated  themselves  to  one  of  the  nuns  named  Louise 
Capeau,  whom  she  had  chosen  to  be  her  intimate  friend,  and 
subsequently  to  some  of  their  companions.  It  was  evident  they 
were  possessed,  and  the  superior  of  the  priest  proceeded  to  exor¬ 
cise  them  in  a  little  chapel,  but  to  no  purpose,  and  for  a  full  year 
the  demons  continued  obstinate. 

Among  the  mountains,  about  three  leagues  from  Aix,  is  the 
cave  of  La  Sainte  Baume,  or  “  the  holy  cavern,”  in  which  Mary 
Magdalen,  according  to  the  popish  tradition,  was  said  to  have 
passed  her  latter  days,  and  which  was  now  looked  upon  as  a 
very  holy  place  of  pilgrimage.  A  convent  had  been  founded  on 
the  spot,  dedicated  to  the  two  patron  saints  of  Provence,  St. 
Magdalen  and  St.  Maximin,  the  prior  of  which,  at  the  time  these 
events  occurred,  was  Sebastian  Michaelis,  who  was  of  sufficient 
importance  to  hold  the  office  of  an  inquisitor  of  the  faith.  The 
superior  of  the  priests  of  Aix,  finding  his  own  exorcisms  of  no 
avail,  applied  to  the  inquisitor  Michaelis,  by  whose  direction  the 
two  patients,  Magdalen  de  la  Palude  and  Louise  Capeau,  were 
carried  to  the  Sainte  Baume.  The  demons  now  became  more 
tractable,  and  the  exorciser  learned  that  Magdalen  was  possessed 


THE  SPIRITS  EXORCISED. 


251 


by  Beelzebub,  and  her  companion  by  a  no  less  potent  imp,  named 
Verrine,  who  confessed  that  they  had  taken  possession  of  the 
sufferers  by  order  of  Louis  Gaufridi,  who  was  the  prince  and 
commander  of  all  the  magicians  in  Spain,  France,  England,  and 
other  countries,  as  far  as  Turkey,  and  who  had  Lucifer  for  his 
demon.  This  Gaufridi  was  a  native  of  the  mountains  of  Prov¬ 
ence,  born  at.  Beauvezer  les  Colmaret ;  he  was  now  a  priest  at 
Marseilles,  enjoying,  it  would  appear,  no  very  good  reputation 
especially  on  account  of  his  intrigues  with  women,  and  he  seems’ 
to  have  been  an  object  of  jealousy  and  ill-feeling  among  his  fel¬ 
low-clergy. 

Sister  Magdalen  was  induced  to  confess  that  when  she  was 
very  young,  Louis  Gaufridi  was  a  frequent  visiter  at  her  father’s 
house  in  the  country,  and  that  one  day  when  they  were  in  the 
belds,  he  lured  her  away  to  a  cavern  at  no  great  distance  from 
her  home.  When  they  entered  the  cavern,  she  saw  a  great 
number  of  people,  at  which  she  was  amazed,  but  her  companion 
encouraged  her  and  said,  “  These  are  our  friends,  you  must  be 
marked  like  them.”  She  poor  girl  was  in  such  astonishment 
that  she  made  no  resistance,  but  submitted  to  be  marked  and 
abused,  and  then  she  returned  home,  telling  nobody,  not  even  her 
father  or  mother,  what  had  occurred.  After  this  she  was  fre¬ 
quently  carried  to  the  meeting  of  the  witches,  of  whom  she  was 
made  princess,  as  Gaufridi  was  their  prince.  Although  she  still 
remained  in  her  father’s  house,  her  intercourse  with  Gaufridi 
continued,  until  she  suddenly  took  a  fancy  to  enter  the  convent 
of  the  nuns  of  St.  Ursula.  When  she  consulted  Gaufridi  on  this 
step,  he  earnestly  dissuaded  her  from  it,  urged  her  to  marry,  and 
promised  to  find  her  a  rich  and  handsome  husband  ;  but  when  he 
saw  that  she  was  fixed  in  her  determination,- he  became  ano-ry 
and  threatened  that,  if  she  became  a  nun,  his  punishment  should 
be  not  only  upon  her,  but  upon  all  the  sisterhood,  and  the  conse¬ 
quence  was  the  visitation  under  which  they  were  now  sufferino-. 
Such  was  the  statement  made  by  Magdalen  de  la  Palude  to  the 
inquisitor  of  the  Sainte  Baume. 

The  two  nuns  arrived  at  the  Sainte  Baume  on  the  27th  of 
November,  1610,  and  the  prior  Mlchaelis  seems  to  have  taken  a 
pleasure  in  exercising  the  office  of  exorcist,  for  he  continued  his 
examinations  almost  daily  till  the  month  of  April  following.  On 
their  first  arrival  at  the  convent  of  the  Holy  Cave,  the  demons 
were  extremely  violent,  and,  irritated  by  the  prior’s  exorcisms, 
they  threw  their  victims  into  violent  contortions,  raised  them  up 
in  the  church  (the  place  of  exorcising),  and  attempted  to  carry 


252 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


them  out  by  an  opening  over  the  choir,  but  they  were  prevented. 
In  the  course  of  a  day  or  two  the  exorcisms  began  to  produce 
their  effect,  and  on  the  7th  of  December,  Verrine,  who  was  the 
weaker  demon,  and  had  possession  of  Sister  Louise,  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  talk.  He  said  that  Louise  was  possessed  by  three  dev¬ 
ils,  himself  and  two  others,  named  Gresil  and  Sormeillon.  Next 
day  Verrine  gave  a  long  account  of  the  beauty,  merits,  and  glory 
of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Meanwhile  Beelzebub,  who  possessed  Sister 
Magdalen,  was  enraged  at  the  informations  given  by  his  fellow- 
demon,  and  during  his  discourse  on  the  merits  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  he  began  to  bellow  like  a  mad  bull,  turning  his  victim’s 
head"  and  eyes  in  dreadful  contortions,  and  taking  off  one  of  her 
shoes,  threw  it  at  Verrine  and  struck  Sister  Louise  on  the  head. 
On  the  9th  of  December,  the  demon  Verrine  accused  Sister  Mag¬ 
dalen  of  being  a  witch,  and  exhorted  her  to  repentance,  but  he  said 
that  Sister  Louise  was  innocent.  Beelzebub  was  again  turbulent, 
and  threatened  Verrine  with  punishment,  but  the- latter  treated 
his  menaces  with  contempt;  he  said  he  owed  obedience  to  Beel¬ 
zebub  when  they  were  in  hell  together,  but  that  under  circum¬ 
stances  like  the  present  he  was  his  equal.  On  the  10th,  Ver¬ 
rine  entered  into  details  relating  to  the  punishments  of  the  other 
world,  and  Beelzebub  was  less  unruly,  though  he  tossed  his  victim, 
Sister  Magdalen,  from  one  side  of  the  church  to  the  other,  saying 
that  was  the  way  they  tossed  about  the  souls  of  sinners  in  the 
regions  below.  During  all  these  strange  proceedings,  the  church 
was  crowded  with  pilgrims,  who  went  away  “  much  edified.” 

It  was  decided  on  the  12th  of  December  that  in  future,  while 
one  priest  exorcised  and  questioned  the  demons,  another  should 
commit  their  answers  to  writing.  These  depositions  were  col¬ 
lected  and  printed  seriously  by  the  exorciser  Sebastian  Michae- 
lis,  whose  book  made  a  great  sensation,  and  went  through  several 
editions.  It  forms  a  sort  of  compendium  of  transcendental  divin¬ 
ity  ;  for  the  exorciser  directed  his  examinations  to  the  express 
object  of  obtaining  “  authentic”  information  on  different  points 
respecting  which  doubts  might  exist  in  the  minds  of  Christians. 
Among  other  things  the  demons  told  them  that  Antichrist  was 
born  ;  and  when  questioned  as  to  the  condition  of  Solomon  and 
Nebuchadnezzar,  whether  Henri  IV.  (then  lately  dead)  was 
saved,  and  on  other  similar  matters,  they  gave  replies  which 
were  highly  satisfactory  to  all  zealous  catholics.  On  one  occa¬ 
sion  Beelzebub  spoke  with  great  bitterness  against  the  art  of 
printing,  cursing  the  inventors  of  it,  those  who  exercised  it,  and 
the  doctors  who  gave  their  approbation  to  the  books  !  These 


PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  GAUFRIDI. 


253 


exorcisms,  as  I  have  stated  above,  were  continued  till  the  month 
ot  Apnl,  1011  ;  the  demons  appear  to  have  suffered  severely 
under  the  compulsion  by  which  such  confessions  were  extorted, 
and  from  time  to  time  they  became  rebellious,  and  howled  and 
shouted,  invoking  other  demons  to  their  assistance  ! 

The  priests  who  conducted  this  affair  seem  almost  to  have  lost 
sight  ol  Louis  Gaufridi,  in  their  anxiety  to  collect  these  important 
evidences  of  the  true  faith.  It  was^not  till  toward  the  close  of 
winter  that  the  reputed  wizard  was  again  thought  of.  A  warrant 
was  then  obtained  against  him,  and  he  was  taken  into  custody, 
and  confined  in  the  prison  of  the  Conciergerie  at  Marseilles.  On 
the  5th  ol  March  he  was  for  the  first  time  confronted  with  Sister 
Magdalen,  but  without  producing  the  result  anticipated  by  his 
persecutors.  Little  information  is  given  as  to  the  subsequent 
proceedings  against  him,  but  he  appears  to  have  been  treated 
with  great  severity,  and  to  have  persevered  in  asserting  his  in¬ 
nocence.  Sister  Magdalen,  or  rather  the  demon  within  her, 
gave  information  of  certain  marks  on  his  body  which  had  been 
placed  there  by  the  evil  one,  and  on  search  they  were  found  ex¬ 
actly  as  described.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if,  after  the  in¬ 
tercourse  which  had  existed  between  them,  Sister  Magdalen 
weie  able  to  give  such  information.  Still  Gaufridi  continued  un¬ 
shaken,  and  he  made  no  confession,  until  at  length,  on  Easter 
eve,  the  26th  of  March,  1611,  a  full  avowal  of  his  guilt  was 
drawn  from  him,  we  are  not  told  through  what  means,  by  two 
capuchins  ol  the  convent  of  Aix,  to  which  place  he  had  been 
transferred  for  his  trial.  At  the  beginning  of  April,  another  wit¬ 
ness,  the  demoiselle  Victoire  de  Courbier,  came  forward  to  de¬ 
pose  that  she  had  been  bewitched  by  the  renegade  priest,  who 
had  obtained  her  love  by  his  charms,  and  he  made  no  objection 
to  their  adding  this  new  incident  to  his  confession. 

Gaufridi  acknowledged  the  truth  of  all  that  had  been  said  by 
Sister  Magdalen  or  by  her  demon.  He  said  that  an  uncle,  who 
had  died  many  years  ago,  had  left  him  his  books,  and  that  one 
day,  about  five  or  six  years  before  his  arrest  on  this  accusation, 
he  was  looking  them  over,  when  he  found  among  them  a  volume 
ol  magic,  in  which  were  some  writings  in  French  verse,  accom¬ 
panied  with  strange  characters.  His  curiosity  was  excited,  and 
he  began  to  read  it,  when  to  his  great  astonishment  and  conster¬ 
nation,  the  demon  appeared  in  a  human  form,  and  said  to  him, 
“  \\  hat  do  you  desire  of  me,  for  it  is  you  who  have  called  me  V 
Gauiridi  was  young,  and  easily  tempted,  and  when  he  had  re¬ 
covered  from  his  surprise,  and  was  reassured  by  the  manner 

22 


254 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  conversation  of  his  visiter,  he  replied  to  his  offer,  “  If  you 
have  power  to  give  me  what  I  desire,  i  ask  for  two  things  ;  first, 
that  I  shall  prevail  with  all  the  women  I  like  ;  secondly,  that  I 
shall  be  esteemed  and  honored  above  all  the  priests  of  this  coun¬ 
try,  and  enjoy  the  respect  of  men  of  wealth  and  honor.”  We 
may  see  perhaps  through  these  wishes  the  reason  why  Gaufridi 
was  persecuted  by  the  rest  of  the  cleigy.  The  demon  promised 
to  grant  him  his  desires,  on  condition  that  he  would  give  up  to 
him  entirely  his  “  body,  soul,  and  works  to  which  Gaufridi 
agreed,  except  ordy  from  the  latter  the  administration  of  the  holy 
sacrament,  to  which  he  was  bound  by  his  vocation  as  a  priest  of 
the  church. 

From  this  time  Louis  Gaufridi  felt  an  extreme  pleasure  in  read¬ 
ing  the  magical  book,  and  it  always  had  the  effect  of  bringing  the 
demon  to  attend  upon  him.  At  the  ena  of  two  or  three  days  the 
agreement  was  arranged  and  completed  and,  it  having  been  fairly 
written  on  parchment,  the  priest  signed  it  with  his  blood.  The 
tempter  told  him  that,  whenever  he  breathed  on  maid  or  woman, 
provided  his  breath  reached  their  nostrils,  they  would  immedi¬ 
ately  become  desperately  in  love  with  him.  He  soon  made  a 
trial  of  the  demon’s  gift,  and  used  it  sr  copiously,  that  he  became 
in  a  short  time  a  general  object  of  attraction  to  the  women  of  the 
district.  He  said  that  he  often  amused  himself  with  exciting 
their  passions,  when  he  had  no  intent  A  n  of  requiting  them,  and 
he  declared  that  he  had  already  made  more  than  a  thousand 
victims. 

At  length  he  took  an  extraordinary  fancy  to  the  young  Mag¬ 
dalen  de  la  Palude  ;  but  he  found  her  difficult  of  approach  on 
account  of  the  watchfulness' of  her  mother,  and  he  only  overcame 
the  difficulty  by  breathing  on  the  mother  before  he  seduced  the 
daughter.  He  thus  gained  his  purpose,  took  the  girl  to  the  cave 
in  the  manner  she  had  already  described,  and  became  so  much 
attached  to  her  that  he  often  repeated  his  charm  on  her  to  make 
her  more  devoted  in  her  love.  Three  Jays  after  their  first  visit 
to  the  cave,  he  gave  _  her  a  familiar  earned  Esmodes.  Finding 
her  now  perfectly  devoted  to  his  will,  he  determined  to  marry 
her  to  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  demons,  and  she  readily 
agreed  to  his  proposal.  He  immediately  called  the  demon 
prince,  who  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  handsome  gentleman  ; 
and  she  then  renounced  her  baptism  and  Christianity,  signed 
the  agreement  with  her  blood,  and  received  the  demon’s  mark. 
When  the  book  of  magic  and  the  various  agreements,  which 
Gaufridi  said  he  had  preserved,  were  nought  for,  they  were  not 


255 


MAGDALEN  DE  LA  PALUDE. 

forthcoming ;  but  he  got  oyer  this  difficulty  by  stating  that  he 
had  burnt  the  one,  when  under  fear  of  arrest,  and  that  the  evil 
one  had  carried  away  the  others.  He  declared  further,  that  he 
had  had  intercourse  with  Sister  Magdalen  since  she  was  at  the 
Sainte  Baume ;  that  he  had  often  been  at  sabbaths  at  the  Baume 
de  Rolland,  the  Baume  de  Loubieres,  and  other  places  in  the 
mountains  about,  and  that  two  or  three  times  he  had  wished  that 
these  meetings  should  be  held  at  the  Sainte  Baume.  Once  the 
devil  had  sent  him  to  fetch  Sister  Magdalen  thence,  and  he  de¬ 
clared  that  he  had  dragged  her  from  one  place  to  another  through 
all  the  woods  around. 

The  priest  gave  an  account  of  the  sabbaths,  at  which  he  was 
a  regular  attendant.  When  he  was  ready  to  go — it  was  usually 
at  night— he  either  went  to  the  open  window  of  his  chamber,  or 
leit  the  chamber,  locking  the  door,  and  proceeded  into  the  open 
air.  I  here  Luciler  made  his  appearance,  and  took  him  in  an 
instant  to  their  place  of  meeting,  where  the  orgies  of  the  witches 
and  sorcerers  lasted  usually  from  three  to  four  hours.  Gaufridi 
divided  the  victims  of  the  evil  one  into  three  classes,  — the 
masques  (perhaps  the  novices),  the  sorcerers,  and  the  magicians. 
On  arriving  at  the  meeting,  they  all  worshipped  the  demon,  ac¬ 
cording  to  their  several  ranks,  the  masques  falling  Hat  on  their 
laces,  the  sorcerers  kneeling  with  their  heads  and  bodies  hum¬ 
bly  bowed  down,  and  the  magicians,  who  stood  highest  in  im¬ 
pel  tanee,  only  kneeling.  After  this,  they  all  went  through  the 
formality  of  denying  God  and  the  saints.  Then  they  had  a  dia¬ 
bolical  service  m  burlesque  of  that  of  the  church,  at  which  the 
e^vil  one  served  as  priest  in  a  violet  chasuble  ;  the  elevation  of 
the  demon  hoste  was  announced  by  a  wooden  bell,  and  the  sac¬ 
rament  itself  was  made  of  unleaven  bread.  The  scenes  which 
followed  resembled  those  of  other  witch-meetings.  Gaufridi  ac¬ 
knowledged  that  he  took  Magdalen  thither,  and  that  he  made 
her  swallow  magical  “  characters,”  that  were  to  increase  her 
love  to  him  ;  yet  he  proved  unfaithful  to  her  at  these  sabbaths 
with  a  multitude  of  persons,  and  among  the  rest  with  “  a  princess 
of  Friesland.  1  he  unhappy  sorcerer  confessed,  among  other 
things,  that  his  demon  was  his  constant  companion,  though  gen¬ 
erally  invisible  to  all  but  himself,  and  that  he  only  left  him  when 
he  entered  the  church  of  the  capuchins  to  perform  his  religious 
duties,  and  then  he  waited  for  him  outside  the  church-door.* 
Gaufridi  was  tried  before  the  court  of  parliament  of  Provence, 
at  Aix.  His  confession,  the  declarations  of  the  demons,  the 
marks  on  his  body,  and  other  circumstances,  left  him  no  hope 


256 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


of  mercy  ;  judgment  was  given  against  him  on  the  last  day  of 
April,  and  the  same  day  it  was  pul  in  execution.  He  was  burnt 
alive. 

All  true  catholics  had  derived  so  much  edification  from  the 
declarations  of  the  demons  of  Aix,  that  cases  of  possession  be¬ 
came  more  frequent,  especially  among  the  nuns.  Among  the 
more  remarkable  cases,  we  may  merely  cite  those  of  the  nuns 
of  Louviers,  in  1643,  and  of  the  nuns  of  Aussonne,  in  1662.  I 
will,  however,  content  myself  with  one  more  narrative  of  this 
class,  which  is  perhaps  the  most  extraordinary  of  them  all.  We 
are  left  to  guess  at  the  reasons  for  the  persecution  of  Louis  Gau- 
fridi,  but  our  next  chapter  will  detail  a  history  of  which  the  mo¬ 
tives  were  more  apparent. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  URSULINES  OF  LOUDUN. 

Soon  after  the  period  of  the  persecution  of  Louis  Gaufridi, 
there  was  in  the  town  of  Loudun  in  the  ancient  province  of  An¬ 
jou  a  priest  named  Urbain  Grandier,  a  canon  of  the  church  there, 
and  a  man  who  was  as  remarkable  for  his  learning  and  talent  as 
for  his  handsome  person  and  courtly  manners.  He  was  born 
toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  at  Bouvere  near  Sable, 
at  which  latter  place  his  father,  Pierre  Grandier,  exercised  the 
profession  of  a  notary,  and  his  uncle,  Claude  Grandier,  was, 
like  himself,  a  priest.  Urbain  Grandier  had  studied  in  the  col¬ 
lege  of  the  Jesuits  at  Bordeaux,  and  distinguished  himself  so 
much  by  his  attainments  and  by  his  eloquence  that  he  became 
very  popular  at  Loudun,  where  he  obtained  two  benefices  as  a 
preacher.  This  excited  the  jealousy  and  hatred  of  his  brotliei 
clergy,  whom  his  proud  and  resentful  spirit  hindered  him  from 
conciliating.  He  seems  to  have  given  them  some  hold  upon 
him  by  certain  irregularities  in  his  life,  especially  by  his  famili¬ 
arities  with  the  other  sex,  which  were  a  matter  of  scandal  in  the 
town.  Loudun,  moreover,  contained  a  large  population  of  prot- 
estants,  and  Urbain  Grandier  perhaps  had  a  leaning  toward 
them. 

Between  the  year  1620  and  1629,  Urbain  Grandier  had  had 
several  serious  quarrels  and  some  lawsuits  with  the  clergy  of 


THE  URSULINES  OF  LOUDUN. 


257 


Loudun.  A  priest  named  Mounier  had  published  libels  upon 
him,  and  Uibain  prosecuted  and  obtained  a  judgment  against 
him,  and  exacted  the  full  penalty  with  unfeeling  rigor.  He  had 
gained  an  action  against  another  priest  named  Mignon,  a  canon 
of  tlie  church  of  St.  Croix,  in  a  matter  relating  to  a  house  which 
the  latter  claimed,  and  he  had  made  Mignon  liis  personal  enemy 
by  the  offensive  manner  in  which  he  exulted  in  his  defeat.  By 
such  proceedings  as  these,  and  by  his  real  or  reputed  amours, 
he  had  gained  many  enemies.  In  1629,  he  was  accused  before 
the  court  of  the  bishop  of  Poitiers  of  scandalous  intrigues,  and 
even  ol  having  secretly  introduced  women  into  his  church  for 
improper  purposes,  and  he  was  condemned  by  the  official  to  be 
ejected  from  all  his  benefices.  But  some  irregularity  having 
been  discovered  in  the  proceedings,  Urbain  appealed,  and  ob¬ 
tained  a  decree  of  parliament,  referring  the  case  to  the  presidial 
ol  Poitiers,  and  he  was  acquitted  of  the  charges  brought  against 
linn,  which  his  accusers  were  compelled  to  retract.  This  judo-- 
ment  was  delivered  on  the  25th  of  May,  1631.  It  increased  the 
exasperation  of  his  enemies  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  archbishop 
of  Bordeaux,  as  Ur  bain’s  friend,  advised  him  to  quit  Loudun,  and 
establish  himself  in  some  other  place  out  of  the  way  of  his  per¬ 
secutors.  But  the  angry  priest  was  too  proud  and  resentful  to 
listen  to  counsel  like  this. 

In  the  year  1626,  a  small  convent  of  Ursuline  nuns  had  been 
established  at  Loudun,  and  being  very  poor,  they  rented  a  pri¬ 
vate  house,  and  were  allowed  to  support  themselves  by  taking 
as  boarders  a  few  young  ladies  whom  they  educated.  Their 
first  confessor  or  “  director  of  conscience,”  was  a  priest  named 
Mussaut,  who  died  soon  after  the  acquittal  of  Urbain  Grandier 
by  the  presidial  of  Poitiers.  Urbain,  rather  imprudently,  be¬ 
came  a  candidate  for  Mussaut’s  place,  but  was  rejected,  it  was 
afterward  said,  on  account  of  his  scandalous  character.  The 
office  ol  dilector  ol  conscience  to  the  Ursulines  was  given  to  his 
old  enemy  Mignon.  I  his  affair  seems  to  have  caused  a  revival 
ol  animosities  which  might  otherwise  have  sunk  into  oblivion. 

Meanwhile  the  young  scholars  of  the  convent  appear  to  have 
felt  dull  in  the  company  of  their  teachers,  and  they  determined 
to  amuse  themselves  with  frightening  them.  For  this  purpose 
they  ielt  their  beds  by  night,  made  dreadful  noises  about  the 
bouse,  and  took  advantage  ol  secret  passages  and  peculiarities 
they  had  discovered  in  the  building  to  play  a  variety  of  pranks, 
wnich  they  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  ghost  of  the  late  spiritual 
duector,  Father  Mussaut.  The  nuns  communicated  their  terrors 

22* 


258 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


to  Mussaut’s  successor,  who  soon  suspected  the  intrigue ;  he 
saw  to  what  advantage  it  might  be  turned,  and  obtained  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  the  girls  who  were  carrying  it  on.  He  not  only  en¬ 
couraged  them  to  proceed,  but  he  soon  brought  the  nuns  them¬ 
selves  to  join  in  his  plans. 

Mignon  now  proceeded  more  systematically  in  instructing  his 
patients  in  the  parts  they  were  to  act,  and  taught  them  to  coun¬ 
terfeit  all  the  strange  postures  and  contortions  of  one  supposed 
to  be  possessed.  He  gained  the  nuns  to  his  purposes,  not  only 
by  holding  out  to  them  the  hope  of  enriching  and  glorifying 
their  order,  but  by  telling  them  that  they  would  be  the  means  of 
confounding  and  perhaps  converting  the  numerous  heretics  in 
and  about  the  town  of  Loudun,  and  he  assured  them  that  Urbain 
Grandier  was  himself  a  secret  heretic.  As  far  as  we  can  judge, 
the  motive  which  had  most  weight  with  the  nuns  was  the  pros¬ 
pect  of  enriching  themselves  by  this  “  pious  fraud,”  and  the  su¬ 
perior  of  the  convent  entered  warmly  into  the  design.  Having 
prepared  everything  for  his  purpose,  Mignon  sent  for  a  bigoted 
priest  of  the  neighborhood  of  Loudun,  named  Pierre  Barre,  a 
man  who  had  assumed  the  character  of  a  saint,  to  support  which 
he  performed  a  variety  of  extravagancies.  With  the  assistance 
of  this  man,  who  was  rejoiced  at  the  opportunity  of  exhibiting 
the  effects  of  his  own  holiness,  Mignon  began  by  exorcising  the 
superior  and  two  of  her  nuns,  and  they  carried  on  their  pro¬ 
ceedings  in  great  secret  for  two  or  three  days.  They  then  en¬ 
tered  into  communication  with  another  priest,  who  bore  a  very 
indifferent  character,  and  made  him  their  messenger  to  two 
magistrates,  whom  they  invited  to  witness  the  exorcising  of  two 
nuns  of  the  convent  of  the  Ursulines  possessed,  as  they  said,  by 
evil  spirits.  The  first  exhibition  before  the  magistrates  took 
place  on  the  11th  of  October,  1632.  Before  the  proceedings 
began,  Mignon  informed  the  magistrates,  that  the  nuns  had  been 
troubled  for  some  time  with  a  visitation  of  spectral  appearances, 
which  had  ended  in  some  of  them  being  possessed  with  demons. 
He  said  that  the  superior  of  the  nuns  was  possessed  by  the  grand 
demon  Astaroth,  and  that  one  of  the  nuns  was  in  the  possession 
of  another  devil  whose  name  was  Sabulon  ;  and,  although  the 
nuns  themselves,  as  he  assured  the  magistrates,  were  totally 
ignorant  of  the  learned  languages,  the  demons  knew  all  lan¬ 
guages,  and  preferred  making  use  of  those  which  were  no 
longer  spoken.  They  were  then  ushered  into  a  chamber  where 
the  superior  lay  in  bed,  and  Mignon  and  his  fellow  exorcist  be¬ 
gan  their  operations.  When  the  patient  first  saw  the  priests 


THE  SPIRITS  TALK  LATIN.  059 

and  their  companions  she  appeared  to  be  seized  with  dreadful 
spasms  and  screamed  fearfully  ;  but  under  the  hands  of  the  ex¬ 
orcists  she  became  calmer,  and  Mignon  proceeded  to  interrogate 
er  spirit  in  Latin.  To  his  first  question,  “  Propter  quatn  caus- 
am  mgressus  es  in  corpus  hujus  virginis  (for  what  cause  did 
you  enter  the  body  of  this  virgin)?”  Astaroth  answered  with 
tt  p  utmost  docility,  “Causa  ammositatis  (from  animosity)” 
Per  quod  pactum  (by  what  pact)  ?”  said  Mignon.  “  Per 
f  ores  (by  flowers),”  replied  the  demon.— “  Quales  (what  flow- 
ms)  ashed  the  priest.  “Rosas,"  was  the  reply. — “  Quis 

Zt  <"'h°  Se’“  ,!he“>  \  “  Vrbanus.-'’"  Die  cog,, omen  (tell 

b  his  surname)  ?”  To  this  demand  the  demon  replied  with  the 
utmost  readiness,  “  Grandter.”-Determi„ed  to  possess  all  the 
particulars  the  exorcist  continued,  “  Die  e,ualitalem  (tell  us  his 
profession)?  “  &acerdos  (a  priest),”  said  the  spirit.—"  Cuius 
ecclesta,  (of  what  church)?”  ■■  Sancti  Petri  (of  St.  Peter’s)  » 
then  said  the  priest,  “  Qua,  persona  attulit  flares  (what  person 

^  (f  demo»rer,)!  Wh‘Ch  “le  inStant  ^  ««.  “  W 

With  this,  the  fit  ended,  and  of  course  the  examination  could 
be  carried  on  no  longer.  Mignon  took  the  magistrates  aside, 
and  discoursed  with  them  on  the  extraordinary  scene  they  had 
witnessed,  pointing  out  to  them  its  resemblance  to  the  affair  of 
Louis  Gaul  rid  1  which  had  occurred  twenty  years  before.  The 
Komish  clergy  in  general  seemed  inclined  to  believe  implicitly 
m  the  possession,  and  the  capuchins  showed  a  particular  ani¬ 
mosity  against  Grandier.  The  laity  were  astonished  at  these 
extraordinary  revelations,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  a 
great  portion  of  them  were  led  by  the  priests,  and  thus  easily 
prejudiced  against  the  accused.  The  calling  in  of  the  magis- 
trates  had  given  the  affair  more  importance;  the  first  two  in¬ 
vited  had  probably  been  selected  as  those  most  likely  to  be  im¬ 
posed  upon  by  priestcraft.  They  were  admitted  to  another 
experiment  next  day  (the  12th  of  October),  and  after  the  demon 
who  possessed  the  superior  of  the  convent  had  been  duly  exor¬ 
cised,  he  repeated  the  charges  against  Grandier,  adding  ’that  he 
was  not  on  y  a  priest,  but  magus  (a  magician).  On  this  occa¬ 
sion  the  guilty  roses  were  asked  for,  and  a  bunch  of  those  flow¬ 
ers  were  produced  and  burnt  before  the  company,  but  to  the 
disappointment  of  them  all,  they  did  not,  as  was  expected,  emit 
a  noxious  odor  under  the  action  of  the  fire.  The  principal  civil 
officers  of  the  municipality  now  interfered,  and  on  the  13th  of 
October  the  bailli  of  the  town,  with  the  lieutenant  civil,  the 


260 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


lieutenant  criminal,  the  procureur  du  roi,  the  lieutenant  a  la  pre¬ 
vote,  and  other  officers,  went  together  to  the  convent  of  the  Ur- 
sulines.  It  would  appear  that  some  of  these  municipal  officers 
were  protestants,  and  the  bailli,  especially,  was  known  as  a  man 
of  good  sense  and  justice.  When  they  arrived  at  the  house 
occupied  by  the  nuns,  they  were  shown  into  a  waiting-room, 
where  they  were  left  a  considerable  time,  until  Mignon  conde¬ 
scended  to  make  his  appearance,  and  inform  them  that  the  de¬ 
mon  that  morning  had  refused  to  answer  except  in  private,  that 
the  examination  had  been  a  very  extraordinary  one,  and  that  he 
would  give  them  a  report  of  it  in  writing. 

Urbain  Grandier  professed  to  despise  the  intrigues  of  his  en¬ 
emies,  but  he  could  not  help  feeling  alarmed  at  the  formidable 
league  which  had  been  raised  against  him.  He  determined  first 
to  apply  for  protection  to  the  spiritual  power,  and  he  hurried  to 
lay  his  complaint  before  the  bishop  of  Poitiers.  This  prelate, 
however,  as  we  have  seen  before,  was  not  friendly  to  Grandier, 
who  could  not  obtain  a  personal  audience,  but  was  referred  back 
to  the  civil  authorities  for  redress.  On  his  return  to  Loudun, 
Grandier  went  to  the  civil  court,  and  presented  a  formal  charge 
of  conspiracy  against  the  priest  Mignon ;  and  on  the  28th  of 
October,  the.  bailli  issued  a  public  order  of  the  court  against  the 
calumnies  of  the  priests.  Mignon  protested  earnestly  against 
this  proceeding,  and  the  whole  town  became  violently  agitated 
by  the  dispute  between  the  priests  and  the  civil  authorities. 
The  bailli  followed  up  his  decree  by  taking  a  decided  part 
against  the  nuns,  and  he  gave  Grandier  warning  of  every  new 
step  which  they  took.  The  priests,  however,  now  set  the  civil 
power  at  defiance,  and,  preparing  to  act  under  the  authority  of 
the  bishop  of  Poitiers,  they  continued  their  exorcisms  of  the 
nuns,  and,  having  collected  together  a  number  of  the  least  rep¬ 
utable  medical  practitioners  of  the  place,  men  they  knew  were 
willing  from  credulity  or  knavery  to  be  their  tools',  they  obtained 
their  signature  to  a  statement  of  the  truth  of  the  possession.  Up¬ 
on  this  the  bailli  publicly  inhibited  the  priests  from  exorcising 
or  further  proceeding  in  this  case,  but  they  again  refused  to  ac¬ 
knowledge  his  jurisdiction. 

They  accordingly  went  on  exorcising  more  openly  and  boldly 
than  ever.  Another  nun  was  now  found  to  be  possessed,  and 
her  demon  confessed  that  he  was  Asmodeus,  and  that  he  had 
live  companions  in  the  possession  of  this  single  victim.  He 
also  declared  that  Urbain  Grandier  was  the  magician  who  had 
sent  them.  This  occurred  on  the  24th  of  November  ;  on  the 


THE  BISHOP  OF  POITIERS.  261 

25tl‘’  ,5ie  clvl1  officers,  who  were  present,  insisted  on  trying  the 
pretended  powers  of  the  demons  to  speak  all  languages, ^nd  the 
bai  h  asked  the  patient  what  was  the  Hebrew  word  signifying 

? .e£  S  l®  Ileld  down  her  head  and  muttered  something 
ic  h  one  of  the  witnesses  who  stood  very  near  her  declared 
was  a  mere  refusal  in  French  to  answer.  But  one  of  the  priests 
who  was  suggesting  to  her,  insisted  that  she  said  zaquaq, *  which 
he  declared  meant  m  Hebrew  aquam  effudi !  On  a  previous 
occasion  they  had  risked  an  exposure  by  making  the  demon 
speak  bad  Latin  They  now,  therefore,  began  to  be  more  cau¬ 
tious  and  carried  on  their  examination  of  the  demons  in  a  more 
secret  manner.  At  the  same  time  they  tried  to  gain  the  bailli 
over  but  in  vain  The  confessions  of  the  demons  still  turned 

o  lalk  UPOn  lthe  del"lquencies  of  Grandier,  but  they  began  also 
t  f  f8l  •  r  HuSuenots>  provoked  no  doubt  by  the  incre- 
of  ^  t  ht  Clvjl  magistrates.  As  the  latter  had  exposed  some 
o  their  tricks,  and  had  given  them  considerable  embarrassment, 

e  nuns  were  now  made  to  say  in  their  tits  that  they  would  no 

longer  give  any  answers  in  the  presence  of  the  bailli  or  other 
municipal  officers. 

Lhe' priests  now  made  their  appeal  to  the  bishop  of  Poitiers, 
v  10  at  last  openly  espoused  their  cause,  and  on  the  28th  of  No- 
vember  he  appointed  two  commissioners,  the  deans  of  the  canons 
of  Champigm,  and  of  the  canons  of  Thouars,  to  examine  into  this 
strange  affair.  W  ith  their  countenance  and  assistance  the  exor¬ 
cisms  commenced  anew,  and  when,  on  the  1st  of  December,  the 
bailli  went  to  the  convent,  and  insisted  upon  being  admitted  to  the 
examination,  and  upon  being  permitted  to  put  questions  to  the  nuns 

^orci^r1^’  uTS  re/US6d  Barrd’  Wh°  now  acted  as  chief 
s  •  he  l)aidl  ,hen  formally  forbade  him  to  put  any  questions 
to  the  pretended  demons  tending  to  defame  individuals  ;  but  Barre 
merely  replied  that  it.  was  his  intention  to  use  his  own  discretion 
in  this  respect.  The  priests  had  now  everything  at  their  own  will 
and  they  were  sanguine  of  success,  when  their  plot  was  deranged 
by  the  unexpected  announcement  that  the  archbishop  of  Bordeaux 
was  on  Ins  way  to  Loudun.  On  several  occasions  the  priests 
iac  declared  to  explain  some  temporary  intermission  of  the  fits, 
that  they  had  succeeded  in  driving  away  the  demons,  but  that 
they  had  subsequently  been  sent  back  by  the  magician.  When 
news  came  of  the  approach  of  the  archbishop,  they  disappeared 
entirely,  and  the  nuns  became  quiet  and  tranquil.  Some  pru- 

d  *  th7eir, ?ba,d  ^ati"'  and  t0  the  classes  in  the  schools,  a  wit  of  the 

y  aid,  Que  les  diable  de  Loudun  n’avoient  etudie  quejusqu’en  troislme.” 


2G2 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


dent  directions  given  by  the  archbishop  seem  to  have  put  a  stop 
to  further  proceedings,  and  even  Mignon  and  Barre  let  the  mat¬ 
ter  drop,  so  that  little  more  was  heard  of  it. 

The  Ursulines  were  now  the  sufferers.  They  fell  into  gene¬ 
ral  discredit;  people  took  away  their  daughters,*  and  they  fell 
into  distress.  They  laid  the  blame  of  their  sufferings  on  their 
director  Mignon,  who  had  led  them  into  the  expectation  of  de¬ 
riving  great  profit  from  their  imposture. 

Before  the  embers  of  this  flame  were  quite  extinct,  an  unex¬ 
pected  circumstance  rekindled  them.  Among  the  pamphlets 
which  had  appeared  against  Cardinal  Richelieu,  who  then  ruled 
the  destinies  of  France,  was  a  very  bitter  satire,  entitled,  in  allu¬ 
sion  to  some  low  intrigue  of  the  cardinals  connected  with  this 
town,  La  Cordonniere  de  Loudiin.  M.  de  Laubardemont,  a  crea¬ 
ture  of  the  cardinal,  who  at  this  time  held  the  office  of  master  of 
the  requests,  was  sent  to  Loudun,  in  1633,  to  direct  the  demoli¬ 
tion  of  the  castle  of  that  place.  Mignon  and  his  fellow-plotters 
immediately  obtained  an  introduction  to  this  minister,  and  they 
not  only  recounted  to  him  the  affair  of  the  nuns,  in  a  manner  very 
disadvantageous  to  Urbain  Grandier  and  his  friends,  but  they 
persuaded  him  that  Urbain  was  the  author  of  the  satire  just  men¬ 
tioned.  Laubardemont  returned  to  Paris,  and  communicated 
what  he  had  heard  to  the  cardinal,  who  seldom  spared  the  au¬ 
thors  of  personal  attacks  on  himself  when  they  were  in  his  pow¬ 
er,  and  who  is  said  to  have  been  urged  on  to  sacrifice  the  cure 
of  Loudun  by  his  confidential  adviser,  the  celebrated  pere  Joseph. 
The  result  was,  that  Laubardemont  returned  to  Loudun,  commis¬ 
sioned  by  the  king  to  inquire  into  the  possession  of  the  nuns, 
and  into  the  charges  against  Grandier.  He  arrived  at  Loudun 
with  this  commission  on  the  6tli  of  December,  1633. 

The  case  now  assumed  a  much  more  serious  countenance. 
The  demons  returned  to  the  sisters  with  redoubled  fury,  and 
with  an  increase  of  numbers,  and  nearly  all  the  nuns  were  at¬ 
tacked  by  them.  Mignon  and  his  fellow-priest  had  already  got 
up  an  exhibition  of  exorcism  for  Laubardemont  before  that  func¬ 
tionary’s  departure  for  Paris,  and  he  brought  back  with  him  a 
writ  for  the  apprehension  of  Grandier,  in  which  were  blazoned 
forth  all  the  crimes  which  had  ever  been  imputed,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  to  that  individual.  Upon  this  he  was  thrown  into  pris¬ 
on,  and  his  house  searched  for  magical  books,  which  were  not 

*  Tallemantdes  R6aux,  who  has  preserved  so  many  anecdotes  of  this  period, 
tells  us  that  Le  Couldray  Montpensier,  who  had  two  daughters  boarding  with  these 
nuns,  immediately  took  them  away,  and  had  them  well  whipped,  which  he  found 
an  efficacious  method  of  driving  out  the  demons. 


PERSECUTION  OF  URBAIN  GRANDIER 


263 


found.  Two  only  proofs  against  him,  considered  of  any  import¬ 
ance,  were  discovered  among  his  papers,  some  French  verses, 
which  are  characterized  in  the  proces  verbal  as  being  sales  et  im- 
pu cliques — a  somewhat  strange  accusation  in  that  licentious  ao-e, 
but  they  perhaps  served  to  corroborate  the  suspicion  that  Gran- 
dier  was  the  author  of  the  libel  on  the  cardinal— and  a  hook 
which  he  had  written,  but  never  published,  against  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  a  series  of  examina¬ 
tions  were  taken,  and  being  committed  to  writing  and  duly  at¬ 
tested,  Laubardemont  carried  them  to  Paris  to  lay  them  before 
the  minister.  He  then  received  a  new  commission  from  the  kino- 
to  act  as  supreme  judge  of  this  cause,  independent  of  all  other 
•jurisdiction  whatever;  and  he  returned  to  Loudun  with  this  ex¬ 
tensive  power  on  the  9th  of  April,  1634. 

Laubaidemont  began  by  selecting  as  judges  a  certain  number 
of  persons  from  the  local  magistracy  who  were  most  likely  to  be 
devoted  to  his  will,  and  such  physicians  and  others  were  cho¬ 
sen  to  assist  in  the  examinations  as  were  known  to  bear  enmity 
to  the  accused.  The  numerous  victims  of  the  pretended  posses¬ 
sion  were  now  distributed  into  two  bands,  for  the  convenience 
of  the  exorcists.  On  the  23d  of  April  the  superior  of  the  nuns 
declared  that  the  demons  who  possessed  her  had  entered  her  in 
the  forms  of  a  cat,  a  dog,  a  stag,  and  a  goat.  On  the  24th,  she 
declared  the  Grandier  had  the  demon’s  marks  on  his  body.  On 
the  authority  of  this  statement,  next  day  a  surgeon,  selected  as 
being  the  bitterest  of  his  enemies,  was  sent  to  Grandier  in  his 
prison  to  search  for  his  marks,  and  the  miserable  victim  was 
stripped  and  treated  with  extreme  inhumanity.  He  ended  by 
discovering,  as  he  pretended,  five  marks,  or  insensible  spots, 
j  he  demons  were  not  always  very  accurate  in  the  information 
they  gave  to  the  exorcists.  When  questioned  as  to  Grandier’s 
books  of  magic,  they  indicated  a  certain  demoiselle  to  whom  he 
had  intrusted  them  before  his  arrest,  and  in  whose  house  they 
said  that  the  books  would  be  found.  Laubardemont  and  others 
went  immediately  to  the  house  indicated,  which  they  examined 
fiom  top  to  bottom,  but  they  found  no  books  of  the  description  of 
those  of  which  they  were  in  search.  They  returned,  and  scold¬ 
ed  the  demons  for  their  false  information.  ’  The  latter  pretended 
that  a  niece  of  the  demoiselle  had  carried  them  away  after  the  in¬ 
formation  had  been  given.  They  then  went  to  the  niece,  but 
they  found  that  she  was  at  church,  and  that  she  had  been  so  oc¬ 
cupied  all  day  that  it  was  impossible  she  could  have  acted  as  the 
demons  stated.  But  the  exorcists  were  not  discouraged  by  a  few 


264 


SORCERY  AND. MAGIC. 


slips  like  these,  and  they  were  especially  active  in  their  exami¬ 
nations  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  of  May.  Some  ,  new  de¬ 
mons  then  appeared  on  the  scene,  under  the  names  of  Eazas, 
Cerberus,  Belierit,  &c.  Other  statements  of  the  demons  were 
found  to  be  false,  and  the  conspirators  had  much  difficulty  in  con¬ 
cealing  some  of  the  tricks  they  employed.  But  all  these  diffi¬ 
culties  were  passed  over  as  matters  of  little  moment. 

The  examinations  were  now  exhibited  publicly  in  the  church, 
and  a  crowd  of  people,  both  catholics  and  Huguenots,  were  al¬ 
ways  present.  The  matter  had  already  created  so  much  sensa¬ 
tion  throughout  France,  that  many  people  of  quality  came  from 
Paris  and  other  parts,  so  that  all  the  hostelries  in  the  town  were 
filled  with  visiters.  Among  the  rest  was  Quillet,  the  court  poet, 
who  fell  into  temporary  disgrace  by  his  imprudence  on  this  occa¬ 
sion.  At  one  of  the  exhibitions,  Satan,  speaking  from  the  mouth 
of  one  of  the  sisters,  threatened  that  he  would  toss  up  to  the  ceil¬ 
ing  of  the  church  any  one  who  should  dare  to  deny  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  nulls.  Quillet  took  him  on  his  word,  and  was  not 
tossed  to  the  ceiling,  but  he  provoked  so  much  the  anger  of  Lau- 
bardemont,  that  he  is  said  to  have  found  it  advisable  to  make  a 
journey  to  Rome.  On  another  occasion  the  devil  boasted  that 
he  would  take  the  protestant  minister  of  Loudun  in  his  pulpit 
and  carry  him  up  to  the  top  of  the  church-steeple,  but  he  did  not 
put  his  threat  in  execution.  This  same  protestant  minister  was 
present  at  one  of  the  examinations,  when  the  priests,  who  were 
administering  the  consecrated  host,  told  him  contemptuously,  to 
show  their  superiority  over  the  Huguenots,  that  he  dared  not  put 
his  fingers  into  the  mouths  of  the  nuns  as  they  did.  He  is  said 
to  have  replied,  that  “he  had  no  familiarity  with  the  devil,  and 
would  not  presume  to  play  with  him.”  The  priests  made  the 
nuns  utter  a  great  mass  of  nonsense,  and  much  that  was  profane 
and  indecent.  They  caused  them  to  say  many  things  irreverent 
even  to  those  who  conducted  the  prosecution,  which  was  con¬ 
sidered  as  proving  how  little  they  were  influenced  by  them.  One 
day  the  devil,  by  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  sisters,  closed  the  ex¬ 
amination  by  declaring,  “  M.  dc  Laubardemont  est  cocu.”  In  the 
evening,  as  usual,  Laubardemont  took  the  written  report,  wrote 
under  these  words  as  a  matter  of  course,  “  Ce  que  fatteste  etre 
vrai ,”  and  signed  it  with  his  name.  When  the  depositions  were 
sent  to  Paris,  this  circumstance  was  the  source  of  no  little  amuse¬ 
ment  at  court. 

As  the  trial  went  on,  doubts  and  ridicule  began  to  be  thrown 
upon  it,  which  alarmed  the  commissioners,  and  it  was  resolved 


CONDEMNATION  OF  GR ANDIE  R.  035 

to  hasten  the  proceedings.  Every  precaution  was  taken  to  se¬ 
cure  the  condemnation  of  Grandier.  His  brother,  an  advocate 
parliament,  was  accused  of  sorcery  and  placed  under  arrest 

•  ha  tal  rghS  n0t  fe  Tpable  0f  appeaIinS-  Evei7  circumstance’ 
that  told  in  favor  of  the  accused  was  carefully  suppressed  whilo 

^;:z:rve  tuTd  against  was  mas,niied  ^  undUe 

importance.  Those  who  expressed  any  doubts  were  threatened 
with  prosecution  ;  and  the  bishop  of  Poitiers  now  came  forward 
gain,  and  not  only  gave  the  prosecution  the  full  advantage  of  his 

Phn  ST11.0"  T  ',0r,'?’  bllt  lle  caused  I’lacards  '»  exhibited 
about  the  town  forbidding  any  one  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  the 

nuns.  1  his  at  once  shut  the  mouths  of  all  Grandier’s  friends. 

His  enemies  had,  however,  another  embarrassing  circumstance 
0  contend  with.  Some  of  the  actors  appear  to*  have  become 
ashamed  of  their  parts,  and  to  have  been  surprised  with  scruples 
of  conscience  At  the  beginning  of  July,  Sister  Clara  declared 
before  the  multitude  assembled  in  the  church,  that  all  her  confes¬ 
sions  lor  some  months  past  had  been  mere  falsehood  and  impos¬ 
ture,  which  had  been  put  into  her  mouth  by  Mignon  and  the 
pnests,  and  she  rushed  from  the  church  and  endeavored  to  make 
her  escape  ;  but  she  was  seized  and  brought  back.  This,  how¬ 
ever,  did  not  hinder  another  nun,  Sister  Agnes,  from  following 
her  example,  and  she  made  a  similar  declaration.  The  commis¬ 
sioner  immediately  adopted  measures  for  hindering  the  recur¬ 
rence  of  such  accidents,  and  the  priests  declared  that  it  was  only 
one  of  the  demon’s  vagaries,  and  that  the  unruly  patients  were 
at  that  moment  under  his  influence.  They  carried  their  meas¬ 
ures  of  intimidation  so  far,  that  they  accused  not  only  a  sister  of 
Grandier,  but  the  wife  of  the  bailli  of  Loudun,  of  being  witches 
intending  thus  at  one  blow  to  strike  fear  into  his  friends  and  re¬ 
lations.  And  they  declared  openly  that  the  attempt  to  throw  dis¬ 
credit  on  the  proceedings  was  a  mere  trick  of  the  Huguenots 
who  were  afraid  that  the  miracles  performed  by  the  priests  on 
this  occasion  would  throw  discredit  upon  them. 

Thus,  overruling  every  form  of  law  and  justice,  did  the  cure’s 
enemies  hurry  on  their  object.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that 
the  all-powerful  cardinal  was  resolved  on  the  destruction  of  the 
victim,  few  were  bold  enough  to  stand  up  in  his  defence.  On 
the  18th  of  August,  1634,  the  judges  assembled  in  the  convent 
of  the  Carmelites,  and  on  the  faith  of  evidence  testified  by  Asta- 
rotb,  the  chief  of  the  devils,  and  a  host  of  other  demons,  they 
pronounced  judgment  on  Urbain  Grandier,  convicted  of  magic 
and  sorcery,  to  the  eftect  that  he  should  perform  penance  before 

23 


2  66 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  public,  and  that  then  he  should  be  conducted  to  the  stake, 
and  burnt,  alive  along  with  his  magical  covenants  and  characters 
(these  were  probably  invented),  and  with  his  manuscript  treatise 
on  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy.*  The  sentence  was  put  in  execu¬ 
tion  the  same  day. 

Thus  perished  another  victim  of  superstition,  adopted  as  the 
instrument  of  personal  revenge.  The  process  of  the  cure  of 
Loudun  made  an  extraordinary  noise,  the  bigoted  priests  holding 
it  up  as  a  miraculous  proof  of  the  truth  and  efficacy  of  the  Romish 
faith,  while  the  protestants  decried  it  loudly  as  an  infamous  im¬ 
posture.  Even  in  England  it' excited  considerable  interest.  It 
gave  rise  to  many  publications  in  France,  where  also  the  evi¬ 
dence  was  analyzed,  and  its  weakness  exposed,  and  the  whole 
affair  soon  fell  into  discredit.  Some  years  afterward,  the  mate¬ 
rials  of  this  tragic  story  were  collected  together  and  arranged  in 
a  small  volume  printed  at  Amsterdam,  in  1693,  under  the  title  of 
the  Histoire  des  Diables  de  Loudun. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  LANCASHIRE  WITCHES. 

There  was  something  extraordinary  in  the  sudden  prevalence 
of  sorcery  during  the  years  1610,  1611,  and  1612,  through  most 
of  the  countries  of  western  Europe.  It  was  in  the  last  of  these 
years  that  occurred  one  of  the  most  romantic,  if  not  one  of  the 
most  remarkable,  cases  of  witchcraft  in  England. 

One  of  the  wildest  districts  in  Lancashire,  even  at  the  present 
day,  is  that  known  as  the  forest  of  Pendle,  on  the  borders  of 
Yorkshire.  Above  it  rises  the  dark  and  lofty  mountain  known 
as  Pendle  hill,  from  the  declivity  of  which  the  forest  extended 
over  a  descent  of  about  five  miles  to  a  barren  and  dreary  tract 
called  the  water  of  Pendle.  The  view  from  the  summit  of  the 
hill  was  grand  and  extensive,  and  near  at  hand  beneath  lay  the 
splendid  remains  of  the  abbey  of  Whalley.  The  tract  included 
under  the  name  of  the  forest  was  barren  and  desolate,  thinly  in¬ 
habited,  and  its  population  very  rude  and  uncultivated.  On  a 

*  The  original  depositions,  with  the  autograph  signatures  of  the  demons  (!),  are 
still  preserved  among  the  manuscripts  in  the  national  library  in  Paris.  The  signa¬ 
tures  are  strange  scrawls,  evidently  written  by  trembling  hands  guided  by  others. 


THE  LANCASHIRE  WITCHES. 


267 


brow  of  the  descent  from  Pendle  hill,  at  a  considerable  distance 
irom  any  other  habitation,  stood  a  solitary  and  deserted  buildino 
of  some  antiquity,  no  doubt  in  ruins,  known  popularly  as  the 
Malkin  tower.  It  was  inhabited  at  the  time  of  which  we  are 
speaking  by  an  old  woman,  whose  real  name  was  Elizabeth 
.Southernes,  but  who  was  better  known  in  the  neighborhood  by 
that  of  Old  Demdike.  She  was  at  this  time  about  eighty  years 
o  age,  and  exhibited  all  the  characteristics  of  a  confirmed  witch 
in  their  most  exaggerated  forms.  She  had  a  son  named  Christo¬ 
pher  and  a  daughter  named  Elizabeth,  who  married  a  laborer  of 
the  Pendle  district,  named  John  Deyice.  The  Devices  had  three 
children,  James,  Alizon,  and  Jennet,  the  latter  being,  in  1612 
nine  years  of  age.  It  is  one  of  the  doctrines  of  sorcery,  that 
the  descendants  ol  a  witch  follow,  from  a  sort  of  inevitable  ne¬ 
cessity,  the  same  profession,  and  all  the  members  of  this  family 

then  living,  through  the  three  generations,  bore  the  same  evil 
reputation. 

I  hey  were  not,  however,  alone  in  their  dealings  with  the 
evil  one,  for  the  district  of  Pendle  was  at  this  time  little  better 
famed  in  the  north  of  England  than  the  territory  of  Labourd  in 
b  ranee.  There  was  another  family  which  held  a  high  rank 
among  the  witches  of  Pendle,  the  principal  member  of  which 
was  Anne  Whittle,  who  went  by  the  popular  name  of  Old  Chat- 
tox,  and  was  of  the  same  age  as  Old  Demdike;  she  had  an  only 
daughter  named  Anne,  who  was  married  to  Thomas  Redferne. 
Old  Demdike  was  the  senior  or  queen  of  the  witches  of  Pendle 
and  the  neighborhood,  but  she  had  a  jealous  rival  in  Old  Chat- 
tox,  and  the  animosity  created  by  their  rivalry  was  shared  by 
their  families.  J 

Mother  Demdike,  however,  had  long  reigned  supreme  in  her 
quarters,  the  terror  of  her  neighbors.  According  to  her  own  con¬ 
fession,  she  had  been  a  witch  fifty  years  (the  printed  book  says 
twenty,  but  there  are  other  circumstances  mentioned  which  show 
this  was  a  misprint).  Her  own  account  of  herself,  when  brought 
to  trial  was,  that  at  the  period  just  mentioned,  she  was  one  (fay 
“  coming  homeward  from  begging,  when  there  met  her  near  unto 
a  stone-pit  in  Goldshaw,  in  the  said  forest  of  Pendle,  a  spirit  or 
devil,  in  the  shape  of  a  boy,  the  one  half  of  his  coat  black,  and 
the  other  brown,  who  bade  her  stay,  saying  to  her,  that  if  she 
would  give  him  her  soul,  she  should  have  anything  that  she  would 
request.  Whereupon  she  demanded  his  name,  and  the  spirit  an¬ 
swered  his  name  was  Tibb.  And  so  in  hope  of  such  gain  as 
was  promised  by  the  said  devil  or  Tibb,  she  was  contented  to 


268 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


give  her  soul  to  the  said  spirit.  And  for  the  space  of  five  or  six 
years  next  after,  the  said  spirit  or  devil  appeared  at  sundry  times 
unto  her  about  daylight-gate  [twilight],  always  bidding  her  stay, 
and  asking  her  what  she  would  have  or  do.  To  whom  she  re- 
plied,  nay,  nothing;  for  she  said  she  wanted  nothing  yet.  And 
so  about  the  end  of  the  said  six  years,  upon  a  sabbath-day,  in  the 
morning,  this  examinate,  having  a  little  child  upon  her  knee,  and 
she  being  in  a  slumber,  the  said  spirit  appeared  unto  her  in  the 
likeness  of  a  brown  dog,  forcing  himself  to  her  knee,  to  get  blood 
under  her  left  arm  ;  and  she  being  without  any  apparel  saving 
her  smock,  the  said  devil  did  get  blood  under  her  left  arm.  And 
she  awaking,  said,  ‘  Jesus,  save  my  child  !’  but  had  no  power,  nor 
could  not  say,  Jesus  save  herself!  whereupon  the  brown  dog  van¬ 
ished  out  of  her  sight ;  after  which  she  was  almost  stark  mad  for 
the  space  of  eight  weeks.” 

The  child  here  spoken  of  must  have  been  Elizabeth  Device, 
one  of  the  heroines  of  the  present  history,  who  in  due  time  was 
betrayed  by  the  evil  one,  and  made  a  witch  by  her  mother.  It 
was  the  old  woman,  also,  who  inducted  her  grand-children,  or 
was  the  means  of  introducing  them,  to  the  same  evil  and  dan¬ 
gerous  calling.  James  Device,  the  eldest  of  these,  said  in  his 
confession,  “  that  upon  Sheare  Thursday  was  two  years  (Easter 
eve,  1610)  his  grandmother,  Elisabeth  Southernes,  alias  Dem- 
dike,  did  bid  him,  this  examinate,  go  to  the  church  to  receive  the 
communion  (the  next  day  after  being  good  Friday),  and  then  not 
eat  the  bread  the  minister  gave  him,  but  to  bring  it  and  deliver  it 
to  such  a  thing  as  should  meet  him  in  his  way  homeward.  Not¬ 
withstanding  her  persuasion,  this  examinate  did  eat  the  bread, 
and  so  in  his  coming  homeward  some  forty  roodes  off  the  said 
church,  there  met  him  a  thing  in  the  shape  of  a  hare,  who  spoke 
unto  this  examinate,  and  asked  him  whether  he  had  brought  the 
bread  that  his  grandmother  had  bidden  him,  or  no.  Whereupon 
this  examinate  answered,  he  had  not ;  and  thereupon  the  said 
thing  threatened  to  pull  this  examinate  in  pieces  ;  and  so  this  ex¬ 
aminate  thereupon  marked  himself  to  God,  and  so  the  said  thing 
vanished  out  of  this  examinate’s  sight.  And  within  some  four 
days  after  that,  there  appeared  in  this  examinate’s  sight,  hard  by 
the  new  church  in  Pendle,  a  thing  like  unto  a  brown  dog,  who 
asked  this  examinate  to  give  him  his  soul,  and  he  should  be  re¬ 
venged  on  any  whom  he  would  ;  whereunto  the  examinate  an¬ 
swered,  that  his  soul  was  not  his  to  give,  but  was  his  Savior 
Jesus  Christ’s;  but  as  much  as  was  in  him  this  examinate  to 
give  he  was  contented  he  should  have  it.  And  within  two  or 


THE  DEVICES  OF  PENDLE. 


269 


three  days  after,  this  examinate  went  to  the  Carre  Hall,  and  upon 
some  speeches  betwixt  Mistress  Towneley  and  this  examinate 
she  charging  this  examinate  and  his  said  mother  to  have  stolen 
some  turves  of  her,  bad  him  pack  the  doores  ;  and  withall  as  he 
went  forth  of  the  door,  the  said  Mistress  Towneley  gave  him  a 
knock  between  the  shoulders.  And  about  a  day  or  two  after 
that,  there  appeared  unto  this  examinate  in  his  way  a  thing  like 
unto  a  black  dog,  who  put  this  examinate  in  mind  of  the  said 
Mistress  Towneley’s  falling  out  with  him,  and  bad  him  make  a 
picture  of  clay  like  unto  the  said  Mistress  Towneley  ;  and  he 
c  ried  it  the  same  night  by  the  fire,  and  within  a  day  after,  he, 
this  examinate,  began  to  crumble  the  said  picture,  every  day 
some,  for  the  space  of  a  week  ;  and  within  two  days  after  all 
was  crumbled  away,  the  said  Mistress  Towneley  died.  And  he 
uithei  saith,  that  in  Lent  last  one  John  Duckworth  of  the  Launde 
promised  this  examinate  an  old  shirt;  and  within  a  fortnight 
altei,  this  examinate  went  to  the  said  Duckworth’s  house,  and 
demanded  the  said  old  shirt;  but  the  said  Duckworth  denied  him 
thereof.  And  going  out  of  the  said  house,  the  said  spirit  Dandy 
appeared  unto  this  examinate,  and  said,  ‘  Thou  didst  touch  the 
said  Duckworth.  Whereupon  this  examinate  answered,  he  did 
not  touch  him.  ‘  Yes,’ said  the  spirit  again,  ‘  thou  didst  touch 
him,  and  therefore  I  have  power  of  him.’  Whereupon  this  ex¬ 
aminate  agreed  with  the  said  spirit,  and  then  wished  the  said 
.spirit  to  kill  the  said  Duckworth  :  and  within  one  week,  then 
next  after,  Duckworth  died.” 

Ilis  sister  Alizons  account  of  her  conversion  to  witchcraft 
was  as  follows.  She  said,  that  “  about  two  years  agon,  her 
grandmother  (called  Elisabeth  Southernes,  alias  old  Demdike) 
c  id  sundry  times  in  going  or  walking  together  as  they  went  be«- 
gmg,  persuade  and  advise  this  examinate  to  let  a  devil  or  famil¬ 
iar  appear  unto  her ;  and  that  she,  this  examinate,  would  let  him 
suck  at  some  part  of  her,  and  she  might  have  and  do  what  she 
would.  And  she  further  saith,  that  one  John  Nutter,  of  the  Bul- 
hole  in  Pendle  aforesaid,  had  a  cow  which  was  sick,  and  re¬ 
quested  this  examinate’s  grandmother  to  amend  the  said  cow  ;  and 
hei  said  grandmother  said  she  would,  and  so  her  said  grand¬ 
mother  about  ten  of  the  clocke  in  the  night,  desired  this  exami¬ 
nate  to  lead  her  forth,  which  this  examinate  did,  she  being  then 
blind  ;  and  her  grandmother  did  remain  about  half  an  hour  forth  ; 
and  this  examinate’s  sister  did  fetch  her  in  again ;  but  what  she 
did  when  she  was  so  forth,  this  examinate  can  not  tell.  But  the 
next  morning  this  examinate  heard  that  the  said  cow  was  dead. 

23* 


270 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


And  this  examinate  verily  thinketh  that  her  said  grandmother 
did  bewitch  the  said  cow  to  death.  And  further,  this  examinate 
saith,  that  about  two  years  agon,  this  examinate  having  gotten  a 
piggin  full  of  blue  milk  by  begging,  brought  it  into  the  house  of  her 
grandmother,  where  (this  examinate  going  forth  presently,  and 
staying  about  half  an  hour)  there  was  butter  to  the  quantity  of  a 
quartern  of  a  pound  in  the  said  milk,  and  the  quantity  of  the  said 
milk  still  remaining;  and  her  grandmother  had  no  butter  in  the 
house  when  this  examinate  went  forth,  during  which  time  this 
examinate’s  grandmother  still  lay  in  her  bed.  And  further,  this 
examinate  saith,  that  Richard  Baldwin  of  Weethead,  within  the 
forest  of  Pendle,  about  two  years  ago,  fell  out  with  this  exami¬ 
nate’s  grandmother,  and  so  would  not  let  her  come  upon  his  land  : 
and  about  four  or  five  days  then  next  after  her  said  grandmother 
did  request  this  examinate  to  lead  her  forth  about  ten  of  the  clocke 
in  the  night,  which  this  examinate  accordingly  did,  and  she 
stayed  forth  then  about  an  houre,  and  this  examinate’s  sister 
fetched  her  in  again.  And  this  examinate  heard  the  next  morn¬ 
ing  that  a  woman-child  of  the  said  Richard  Baldwin  was  fallen 
sick  ;  and  as  this  examinate  did  then  hear,  the  said  child  did  lan¬ 
guish  afterward  by  the  space  of  a  year,  or  thereabouts,  and  died. 
And  this  examinate  verily  thinketh  that  her  said  grandmother  did 
bewitch  the  said  child  to  death.” 

The  youngest  of  the  Devices,  Jennet,  a  child  of  nine  years, 
was  as  yet  too  young  to  be  a  witch  herself,  but  she  'had  been  a 
careful  watcher  of  the  doings  of  her  relatives,  and  appears  to 
have  been  usually  admitted  to  their  secret  meetings. 

Old  Demdike  must  certainly  have  obtained  the  special  favor 
of  the  evil  one,  if  it  was  to  be  gained  by  the  number  of  her  con¬ 
verts,  for  she  was  not  only  the  perverter  of  those  of  her  own 
party,  but  of  those  of  the  rival  faction  also  ;  for  old  Chattox,  her 
equal  in  age  and  decrepitude,  if  not  in  power,  confessed  that  it 
was  Mother  Demdike  who  first  seduced  her  to  listen  to  the 
tempter.  The  records  of  the  court  testify  that  “  the  said  Anne 
Whittle,  alias  Chattox,  said,  that  about  fourteen  years  past  she 
entered,  through  the  wicked  persuasions  and  counsel  of  Elisabeth 
Southernes,  alias  Demdike,  and  was  seduced  to  condescend  and 
agree  to  become  subject  unto  that  devilish  abominable  profession 
of  witchcraft.  Soon  after  which,  the  devil  appeared  unto  her  in 
the  likeness  of  a  man,  about  midnight,  at  the  house  of  the  said 
Demdike  ;  and  thereupon  the  said  Demdike  and  she  went  forth 
of  the  said  house  unto  him ;  whereupon  the  said  wicked  spirit 
moved  this  examinate  that  she  would  become  his  subject  and 


271 


THE  IMAGES  OF  CLAY. 

give  her  soul  unto  him.  The  which  at  first  she  refused  to  assent 
nil  o  ,  but,  after,  by  the  great  persuasions  made  by  the  said  Dem- 
dike,  she  yielded  to  be  at  his  commandment  and  appointment 
hereuP°n  the  *aid  W]cked  spirit  then  said  unto  her,  that  he  must 
have  one  part  of  her  body  for  him  to  suck  upon  ;  the  which  she  de¬ 
nied  then  to  grant  unto  him  ;  and  withall  asked  him,  what  part  of 
her  bod)  he  would  have  for  that  use  ;  who  said,  he  would  have  a 
place  of  her  right  side,  near  to  her  ribs,  for  him  to  suck  upon  • 
whereunto  she  assented.  And  she  further  said,  that  at  the  same 
time  there  was  a  thing  in  the  likeness  of  a  spotted  bitch  that 
came  with  the  said  spirit  unto  the  said  Demdike,  which  then  did 
speak  unto  her  in  this  examinate’s  hearing,  and  said,  that  she 
should  have  gold,  silver,  and  worldly  wealth,  at  her  will  •  and  at 
the  same  time  she  saith  there  was  victuals,  viz.,  flesh,  butter 
cheese,  bread,  and  drink,  and  bid  them  eat  enough.  And  after 
their  eating,  the  devil  called  Fancy,  and  the  other  spirit  calling 
himsell  Tibb,  carried  the  remnant  away.  And  she  saith,  that 
although  they  did  eat,  they  were  never  the  fuller  nor  better  for 
the  same  ;  and  that  at  their  said  banquet  the  said  spirits  gave 
them  light  to  see  what  they  did,  although  they  neither  had^fire 
nor  candlelight ;  and  that  they  wrere  both  she  spirits  and  devils.” 

Anne  Redierne,  Mother  Chattox’s  daughter,  held  a  special 
rank  among  these  miserable  people,  for  she  was  the  most  skilful 
ol  them  all  in  making  those  terrible  instruments  of  evil,  the  ima¬ 
ges  of  clay.  Old  Demdike,  in  her  confession,  declared  “  that 
about  half  a  year  before  Robert  Nutter  died,  as  this  examinate 
tninketh,  this  examinate  went  to  the  house  of  Thomas  Redferne 
which  was  about  midsummer,  as  this  examinate  remembereth  it’ 
And  there,  within  three  yards  of  the  east  end  of  the  said  house* 
she  saw  the  said  Anne  Whittle,  alias  Chattox,  and  Anne  Red- 
ferne,  wife  of  the  said  Thomas  Redferne,  and  daughter  of  the  said 
Anne  W hittle,  alias  Chattox,  the  one  of  the  one  side  of  the  ditch 
and  the  other  on  the  other,  and  two  pictures  of  clay  or  marie 
D  ing  b>'  them  ;  and  the  third  picture  the  said  Anne  Whittle  alias 
Chattox,  was  making;  and  the  said  Anne  Redferne,  her  said 
daughter,  wrought  her  clay  or  marie  to  make  the  third  picture 
withalh  And  this  examinate  passing  by  them,  the  said  spirit 
called  fibb,  in  the  shape  of  a  black  cat,  appeared  unto  her  this  ex¬ 
aminate,  and  said,  ‘  Turn  back  again,  and  do  as  they  do.’  To 
whom  this  examinate  said,  ‘  What  are  they  doing?’  Whereunto 
the  said  spirit  said,  ‘  They  are  making  three  pictures.’  Where¬ 
upon  she  asked  whose  pictures  they  were.  Whereunto  the  said 
spirit  said,  ‘  1  hey  are  the  pictures  of  Christopher  Nutter,  Robert 


272 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Nutter,  and  Mary,  wife  of  the  said  Robert  Nutter.’  But  this  ex- 
aminate  denying  to  go  back  to  help  them  to  make  the  pictures 
aforesaid,  the  said  spirit,  seeming  to  be  angry  therefore,  shove 
or  pushed  this  examinate  into  the  ditch,  and  so  shed  the  milk 
which  this  examinate  had  in  a  can  or  kit,  and  so  thereupon  the 
spirit  at  that  time  vanished  out  of  this  examinate’s  sight.  But 
presently  after  that,  the-  £aid  spirit  appeared  to  this  examinate 
again  in  the  shape  of  a  hare,  and  so  went  with  her  about  a  quar¬ 
ter  of  a  mile,  but  said  nothing  to  this  examinate,  nor  she  to  it.” 

The  two  factions  under  these  two  rivals  in  mischief — the  Er- 
ictho  and  Canidia,  as  they  have  been  aptly  termed,  of  the  forest 
of  Pendle — were  the  terror  of  the  neighborhood.  Those  who 
were  not  witches  themselves,  were  glad  to  buy  on  any  terms  the 
favor  of  Mother  Demdike  and  her  familar  Tibb,  or  that  of  Mother 
Chattox  and  her  imp  Fancy  ;  and  those  who  offended  the  two 
powerful  sorceresses  or  their  friends,  or  who  failed  to  propitiate 
them,  were  sure  to  meet  with  some  kind  of  severe  punishment. 
Several  of  their  deeds  are  recounted  in  the  examinations  taken 
down  at  the  trials.  Their  vengeance  was  often  the  result  of 
very  trifling  provocations,  and  they  at  times  exerted  their  blight¬ 
ing  influence  without  any  provocation  at  all.  In  her  second 
examination,  Alizon  Device,  after  telling  the  manner  of  her  se¬ 
duction  by  her  grandmother,  says  that  not  long  after,  “being 
walking,  toward  the  Rough-lee,  in  a  close  of  one  John  Robin¬ 
son’s,  there  appeared  unto  her  a  thing  like  unto  a  black  dog, 
speaking  unto  her,  and  desiring  her  to  give  him  her  soul,  and  he* 
would  give  her  power  to  do  anything  she  would  :  whereupon 
this  examinate  being  therewithall  inticed,  and  setting  her  down, 
the  said  black  dog  did  with  his  mouth  (as  this  examinate  then 
thought)  suck  at  her  breast,  a  little  below  her  paps,  which  place 
did  remain  blue  half  a  yeare  next  after  ;  which  said  black  dog 
did  not  appear  to  this  examinate,  until  the  eighteenth  day  of 
March  last;  at  which  time  this  examinate  met  with  a  pedlar  on 
the  highway  called  Colne-field,  near  unto  Colne  ;  and  this  ex¬ 
aminate  demanded  of  the  said  pedlar  to  buy  some  pins  of  him  ; 
but  the  said  pedlar  sturdily  answered  that  he  would  not  loose 
his  pack  ;  and  so  this  examinate  parting  with  him,  presently 
there  appeareth  to  this  examinate  the  black  dog  which  appeared 
unto  her  as  before  ;  which  black  dog  spake  unto  her  in  English, 
saying,  *  What  wouldst  thou  have  me  to  do  with  yonder  man?’ 
To  whom  this  examinate  said,  ‘  What  canst- thou  do  at  him  ?’ 
And  the  dog  answered  again,  ‘  I  can  lame  him.’  Whereupon 
this  examinate  answered,  and  said  to  the  black  dog,  ‘  Lame 


FEUDS  AMONG  THE  WITCHES.  o7o 

<v  /  t) 

him  and  before  the  pedlar  was  gone  forty  rods  further  he  fell 
down  lame  ;  and  this  exanimate  then  went  after  the  said’pedlar  • 
and  m  a  house  about  the  distance  aforesaid,  he  was  lying  lame  ” 
We  have  seen  that  Ahzon  Device  accused  her  grandmother 
Demdike  of  causing  the  death  of  a  daughter  of  Richard  Bald- 
win,  the  miller,  about  two  years  before  the  time  of  her  arrest 
rhe  feud  between  them  seems  to  have  been  lasting,  for  the  old 
woman  confessed  that,  a  little  before  the  Christmas  of  1611  her 
taughter  Elizabeth  Device  had  been  employed  “in  helping-  the 
folks  at  the  mill,  and  asked  her  to  call  upon  Richard’ Baldwin 
to  demand  some  remuneration  for  her  work.  Probably  Eliza- 
be  h  Device  had  given  some  cause  of  anger  to  the  miller  for  as 
°ld  Demdike,  led  by  her  granddaughter  Alizon  (for  she  was  her- 

cer  -in  "o  )?  ai;pr°ached.  !us  house,  ®et  them,  and  applying 
cerum  opprobrious  epithets  to  both,  threatened  he  would  burr! 

he  one  and  hang  the  other  unless  they  went  their  ways  As 
hey  were  passing  the  next  hedge,  the  old  witch’s  familiar  Tibb 
made  his  appearance,  and  obtained  a  commission  to  take  ven- 

;X^“,Uer  °r  h'V'  w-,Tw. 

As  far  as  we  can  discover  from  the  facts  deposed  at ‘the  trial 

from  the  d7  Tfen  M°,th,er  Pemdike  and  M°ther  Chattox  arose’ 
rom  the  depredations  of  the  latter  or  of  her  family,  which  hap¬ 
pened  about  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Eliza- 
be th  Dcv'ce  was  robbed,  and  some  of  the  articles  stolen  were 
found  immediately  afterward  on  the  person  of  Anne,  the  daugh- 

arwl  L  1  1  (t  WaS  n0t  at  this  time  mamed  to  Redferne), 

and  reclaimed.  The  anger  of  Mother  Chattox  was  now  .reat 

olcl'De,  dei^eV,Cri’ "“I’!81 bi!ing  apparently  powerless  agfinst 
old  Demdike  and  her  blood,  her  son-in-law  John  Device  the 

ms  band  ol  Elizabeth,  became  so  alarmed  for  his  own  safety 

tna  he  covenanted  with  Chattox  to  pay  her  yearly  a  measure  of 

meal  on  condition  that  she  should  not  hurt  him  or  his  goods  bv 

vp!'rch T-T  v  1  rrhlu’”  S;!ld  Alizon>  “  was  yearly  paid,  until  the 
}  ar  which  her  father  died  in,  which  was  about  eleven  years 

since  ;  her  father,  upon  his  then  death-bed,  taking  it  that  the 
said  Anne  Whittle,  alias  Chattox,  did  bewitch  him  to  death  be¬ 
cause  the  said  meal  was  not  paid  the  last  year !” 

Many  other  persons  seem  to  have  been  gradually  drawn  into 
this  ieud,  among  whom  were  some  branches  of  the  Nutters,  a 
iamily  rather  extensively  spread  among  the  lesser  gentry  and 
>  eomanry  of  this  district.  The  Redfernes  were  tenants  of  the 
i\  utters  of  Pendle  in  the  time  of  old  Robert  Nutter,  whose  wife, 


274 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Elizabeth  Nutter,  had  employed  Mother  Chattox  to  effect  the 
destruction  of  her  own  grandson,  known  as  “  young  Robert 
Nutter,”  in  order  that  her  husband’s  lands  might  go  to  some 
member  of  the  same  family  who  stood  higher  in  her  favor.  This 
circumstance  we  learn  from  the  confession  of  Mother  Chattox 
herself,  who  tells  us  that  “  Elizabeth  Nutter,  wife  to  old  Robert 
Nutter,  did  request  this  exanimate,  and  Loomeshaw’s  wife  of 
Burley,  and  one  Jane  Boothman  of  the  same,  who  are  now  both 
dead,  to  get  young  Robert  Nutter  his  death,  if  they  could,  all 
beino-  together  then  at  that  time,  to  that  end,  that  if  Robert  were 
dead,  then  the  women  their  cousins  might  have  the  land  ;  by 
whose  persuasion  they  all  consented  unto  it.  After  which  time, 
this  examinate’s  son-in-law  Thomas  Redferne  did  persuade  this 
examinate  not  to  kill  or  hurt  the  said  Robert  Nutter;  for  which 
persuasion  the  said  Loomeshaw’s  wife  had  like  to  have  killed 
the  said  Redferne,  but  that  one  Mr.  Baldwyn  (the  late  school¬ 
master  at  Coin)  did  by  his  learning  stay  the  said  Loomeshaw’s 
wife,  and  therefor  had  a  capon  from  Redferne.” 

Baldwyn,  the  schoolmaster,  was  probably  a  “  white  wizard.” 

Robert  Nutter  was  thus  saved  from  death,  but  his  fate  was 
only  deferred,  for  not  long  after,  as  Mother  Chattox  further  in¬ 
forms  us,  Robert  Nutter  who  was  probably  ignorant  of  the  plot 
from  which  he  had  already  escaped,  “  did  desire  her  daughter, 
Redferne’s  wife,  to  have  his  will  of  her,  being  then  in  Redfeihie’s 
house  ;  but  the  said  Redferne’s  wife  denied  the  said  Robert. 
Whereupon  the  said  Robert  seeming  to  be  greatly  displeased 
therewith,  in  a  great  anger  took  his  horse  and  went  away,  say¬ 
ing  in  a  great  rage,  that  if  ever  the  ground  came  to  him  she 
should  never  dwell  upon  his  land.”  Anne  Redferne  told  her 
mother  of  the  threat  and  the  circumstance  which  had  given  rise 
to  it,  and  the  latter  immediately  consulted  her  familiar  Fancy, 
“  who  came  to  her  in  the  likeness  of  a  man,  in  a  parcel  of 
ground  called  the  Launde,  asking  this  examinate  what  she 
would  have  him  to  do  ;  and  this  examinate  bade  him  go  and  re¬ 
venge  her  of  the  said  Robert  Nutter.”  The  result  was  the 
death  not  only  of  Robert  Nutter,  but  of  his  father,  Christopher 
Nutter,  the  particulars  of  which  were  told  at  the  trial  by  young 
Robert’s  brother  John  and  his  sister  Margaret. 

Elizabeth  Nutter  had  now  fully  obtained  her  desire,  and  the 
Redfernes  were  allowed  to  remain  in  their  house.  Some  years 
after,  however,  we  still  find  hostility  existing  between  the  Red¬ 
fernes  and  the  Nutters  of  Pendle.  Anthony  Nutter  had  now, 
perhaps,  inherited  Elizabeth  Nutter’s  property,  and  lived  in  the 


THE  WITCHES  ARRESTED. 


275 


house  at  Pendle  with  his  daughter  Anne.  One  day  they  offend¬ 
ed  Mother  Chattox,  when  she  came  to  their  house,  and  next  day 
Anne  Nutter  fell  sick,  and,  after  languishing  three  weeks,  died. 
James  Device,  on  his  examination  at  the  trial,  told  a  strange 
story  connected  with  this  event.  He  said,  that  “twelve  years 
ago,  Anne  Chattox,  at  a  burial  at  the  new  church  in  Pendle,  did 
take  three  scalps  of  people  which  had  been  buried  and  then ’cast 
out  of  a  grave,  as  she  the  said  Chattox  told  this  exaininate  ;  and 
took  eight  teeth  out  of  the  said  scalps,  whereof  she  kept  four  to 
herself,  and  gave  other  four  to  the  said  Demdike,  this  exami- 
nate’s  grandmother ;  which  four  teeth  now  shown  to  this  exam- 
mate  are  the  four  teeth  that  the  said  Chattox  gave  to  his  said 
grandmother  as  aforesaid  ;  which  said  teeth  have  ever  since  been 
kept,  until  now  iound  by  Henry  Hargreaves  and  this  exaininate, 
at  the  west  end  of  this  examinate’s  grandmother's  house,  and 
there  buried  in  the  earth,  and  a  picture  of  clay  there  likewise 
found  by  them  about  half  a  yard  over  in  the  earth  where  the 
said  teeth  lay,  which  said  picture  so  found  was  almost  withered 
away,  and  was  the  picture  of  Anne,  Anthony  Nutter’s  daughter.” 

We  have  no  account  of  the  circumstances  which,  after”  these 
witches  had  so  long  enjoyed  impunity,  led  at  last  to  their  seizure. 
Perhaps  the  enmity  of  the  Nutters  had  something  to  do  with  it  ■ 
but  Thomas  Potts,  who  collected  and  printed  the  records  of  a 
trial  in  which  he  seems  to  have  taken  a  very  particular  interest  * 
ascribes  their  discovery  and  arrest  to  the  zealous  endeavors  of 
that  “  very  religious  honest  gentleman,”  Roger  Nowell,  Esq., 

“  <me  °r  his  majesty’s  justices  in  these  parts,”  the  representative 
of  the  old  family  of  the  Nowells  of  Read  in  the  Pendle  district. 
Four  of  the  most  notorious  of  these  witches,  Demdike  and  Chat¬ 
tox,  with  Alizon  Device  and  Anne  Redferne,  were  captured  by 
Nowell’s  orders,  and,  having  each  made  a  “  full”  confession, 
probably  in  the  hope  of  saving  their  lives,  he  committed  them 
as  prisoners  to  Lancaster  castle  on  the  second  of  April,  1612,  to 
take  their  trials  at  the  next  assizes. 

*  Fotts  was  the  author  of  “  The  Wonderful  Discoverie  of  Witches  in  the  Coun¬ 
tie  of  Lancaster  (4to,  London,  1613),  a  book  of  some  rarity,  of  which  a  reprint, 
with  a  considerable  mass  of  valuable  information,  was  edited,  in  1845,  for  the 
Chatham  bociety,  by  James  Crossley,  Esq.,  of  Manchester.  The  present  account 
of  the  Lancashire  witches  is  compiled  entirely  from  the  materials  preserved  by 
Potts,  which  are  the  authentic  copies  of  the  confessions  of  the  offenders  and  the 
depositions  of  witnesses.  The  common  chap-book  tract,  entitled  “  The  Lancashire 
Witches,”  which  has  been  inserted  by  Mr.  Halliwell  in  his  “  Palatine  Anthology,” 
was  a  mere  catch-penny  invention. 

The  reader  will  remember  the  admirably  conceived  character  of  Master  Thomas 
Potts,  in  Ainsworth’s  romance. 


276 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Their  chief  place  of  resort,  Malkin  tower,  remained  as  yet 
unvisited  and  untouched.  It  was  a  place  looked  upon  with  awe 
by  the  peasantry,  and  few  but  Old  Demdike  and  her  confederates 
cared  to  approach  it.  Strange  noises  were  heard  about  it,  and  it 
was  haunted  by  beings  still  more  strange.  James  Device,  in  his 
examination  before  Justice  Nowell,  deposed  that,  “  about  a  month 
ago,  as  this  examinate  was  coming  toward  his  mother’s  house, 
and  at  day-gate  [twilight]  of  the  same  night,  he  met  a  brown  dog 
coming  from  his  grandmother’s  house,  about  ten  roods  distant 
from  the  same  house  ;  and  about  two  or  three  nights  after,  he 
heard  a  voice  of  a  great  number  of  children  shrieking  and  crying 
pitifully,  about  daylight-gate,  and  likewise  about  ten  roods  distant 
of  this  examinate’s  said  grandmother’s  house.  And  about  five 
nights  then  next  following,  within  twenty  roods  of  the  said  Eliz¬ 
abeth  Southerne’s  house,  lie  heard  a  foul  yelling  like  unto  a  great 
number  of  cats  ;  but  what  they  were,  this  examinate  can  not  tell.” 

It  was  here  that,  during  Mother  Demdike’s  life,  the  witches 
of  these  parts  held  their  grand  and  solemn  meetings,  which  took 
plaee  annually  on  Good  Friday.  The  day  of  assembly  was  just 
at  hand  when  Demdike  was  arrested,  but  many  of  the  witches 
who  had  escaped  met  as  usual,  in  spite  of  her  absence.  In  fact, 
the  meeting  at  the  Malkin  tower,  on  the  Good  Friday  of  1612, 
seems  to  have  been  better  attended  than  usual.  There  was,  we 
are  told,  “  great  cheer,  merry  company,  and  much  conference.” 
The  objects  of  this  conference  were  of  some  importance.  It  was 
Elizabeth  Device  who  presided,  and  of  course  now  the  object  of 
most  interest  to  her  was  the  delivery  of  her  mother.  It  was,  we 
are  told,  proposed  to  kill  the  jailer  of  Lancaster  castle,  set  all 
the  prisoners  at  liberty,  and  blow  up  the  castle,  by  a  lew  old 
women  assembled  in  an  old  ruinous  tower.  But  what  might  not 
old  women  do,  when  they  had  Satan  to  assist  them  ?  The  mat¬ 
ters  which  were  intended  to  be  originally  debated  or  performed 
at  this  meeting  were  the  christening  of  a  familiar  for  Alizon  Dev¬ 
ice,  and  the  bewitching  of  certain  individuals  who  had  recently 
given  them  offence. 

But  while  thus  consulting,  the  witches  were  not  aware  that  a 
young  traitor  was  sitting  among  them.  This  was  Jennet  Device, 
the  youngest  of  the  granddaughters  of  Old  Device,  and  the  child 
of  the  very  woman  who  was  presiding  over  the  meeting  in  her  ab¬ 
sence.  This  ill-conditioned  child,  a  girl  of  nine  years  old,  gave 
inlormation  to  the  zealous  Justice  Nowell  of  the  meeting  at  the 
Malkin  tower,  and  told  him  who  were  present.  Within  a  few 
days  the  number  of  persons  implicated  in  this  affair,  imprisoned 


277 


THE  MEETING  AT  MALKIN  TOWER. 

in  Lancaster  castle,  was  increased  to  twelve,  among  whom  were 
Elizabeth  Device,  her  son  James,  and  Alice  Nutter,  of  Rough 
Lee,  a  lady  of  fortune. 

from  the  informer,  Jennet  Device,  the  worthy  justice  extracted 
a  more  particular  account  of  the  feast  at  the  Malkin  tower.  She 
said  there  were  about  twenty  persons  present,  of  whom  three 
only  were  men,  and  that  the  hour  of  meeting  was  twelve  o’clock 
ot  the  day.  They  had  to  their  dinner,  beef,  bacon,  and  roasted 
mutton  ;  “  which  mutton,  as  this  examinate’s  brother  said  was 
ot  a  wether  of  Christopher  Swyer’s,  of  Barley;  which  wether 
was  brought  in  the  night  before  into  this  examinate’s  mother’s 
louse  by  the  said  Janies  Device,  and  in  this  examinate’s  sight 
was  a  led  and  eaten  as  aforesaid.”  John  Baleock,  one  of  the 
men  present  at  this  meeting,  turned  the  spit.  A  woman  named 
i  reston  of  Craven,  in  Yorkshire,  was  brought  by  her  familiar 
who  had  taken  the  form  of  a  white  foal  for  that  purpose.  James 
.  ' e7*Cf.’ .wk°  conlessed  that  he  had  been  present  at  the  meeting 
in  Malkin  Tower,  added,  “that  all  the  witches  went  out  of  the 
said  house  in  their  own  shapes  and  likenesses.  And  they  all,  by 
that  they  were  forth  of  the  doors,  got  on  horseback  like  unto 
loals,  some  ol  one  color,  some  of  another;  and  Preston’s  wife 
was  the  last ;  and  when  she  got  on  horseback,  they  all  presently 
vanished  out  of  this  examinate’s  sight.  And  before  their  said 
parting  away,  they  all  appointed  to  meet  at  the  said  Preston’s 
wnes  house  that  day  twelvemonth;  at  which  time  the  said  Pres¬ 
ton  s  wife  promised  to  make  them  a  great  feast.  And  if  they  had 
occasion  to  meet  in  the  meantime,  there  should  warning  be  giv¬ 
en,  that  they  all  should  meet  upon  Romleyes  Moor.” 

Several  ol  the  persons  at  this  meeting  were  related  in  some 
way  or  other  to  the  Devices  or  to  their  rivals,  and  they  appear  to 
have  been  generally  of  a  very  equivocal  character  in  other  re¬ 
spects.  One  person  now  implicated  in  this  affair,  Alice  Nutter, 
ol  Rough  T-.ee,  alone  excites  much  sympathy.  She  was  a  woman 
of  considerable  property,  and  held  a  respectable  position  among 
the  better  families  in  the  county.  Rough  Lee,  her  residence,  is 
still  standing,  and  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  gentleman’s  house 
ol  that  period.  Jennet  Device,  the  little  girl,  was  evidently  sub¬ 
orned  to  swear  away  the  lives  of  her  relatives,  and  there  appeared 
good  reason  for  believing  that  she  introduced  Alice  Nutter  into 
the  plot  at  the  desire  of  some  of  that  lady’s  relatives,  who  were 
eager  to  ootain  her  property,  which  would  come  to  them  by  her¬ 
itage  on  her  death.  It  has  been  further  handed  down  by  tradi¬ 
tion  that  Justice  Nowell  owed  the  lady  a  grudge  on  account  of  a 

24 


278 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


long-disputed  question  of  a  boundary  between  their  lands,  and 
that  he  at  least  gave  encouragement  to  this  conspiracy  against  her. 

The  charges  brought  against  Alice  Nutter  on  the  trial  were 
chiefly  remarkable  for  their  weakness.  Jennet  Device  and  her 
brother  James  declared  that  she  was  at  the  meeting  at  the  Mal¬ 
kin  tower  on  Good  Friday,  and  Elizabeth  Device  said  she  joined 
with  her  and  Old  Demdike  in  bewitching  a  man  named  Mitton, 
to  death,  merely  because  the  said  Mitton  had  refused  to  give  Old 
Demdike  a  penny. 

Old  Demdike  escaped  the  cruelty  of  the  law  by  dying  in  pris¬ 
on  a  few  days  after  she  had  been  committed.  Thus  Mother 
■Chattox  became  the  chief  of  the  witches  who  were  brought  into 
court  for  trial  on  the  19th  of  August.  She  is  described  as  “  a  very 
old,  withered,  spent,  and  decrepit  creature,  her  sight  almost  gone.” 
Mother  Chattox  was  quite  blind",  her  lips  were  “  ever  chattering 
and  talking,  but  no  man  knew  what and  she  was  “  always  more 
ready  to  do  mischief  to  men’s  goods  than  themselves  in  this 
respect  the  contrary  of  Demdike,  who  took  delight  in  killing  and 
tormenting  the  persons  of  her  enemies.  She  was,  nevertheless, 
notorious„as  “  a  dangerous  witch,”  and  was  “  always  opposite  to 
Old  Demdike,  for  whom  the  one  favored,  the  other  hated  dead¬ 
ly.”  Between  them,  no  doubt,  the  forest  of  Pendle  must  have 
been  an  agreeable  neighborhood.  Yet  Mother  Chattox  had  some 
feelings  of  affection,  for  when  judgment  was  pronounced  upon 
her,  she  cried  out  in  a  distracted  manner  that  God  would  be  mer¬ 
ciful  to  her,  and  falling  on  her  knees,  supplicated  the  judge  that 
he  would  “  be  merciful  unto  Anne  lledferne,  her  daughter.” 
Demdike’s  daughter,  Elizabeth  Device,  was  next  brought  to  the 
bar.  “  This  odious  witch  was  branded  with  a  preposterous  mark 
in  nature,  even  from  her  birth,  which  was  her  left  eye  standing 
lower  than  the  other ;  the  one  looking  down,  the  other  looking 
up,  so  strangely  deformed  that  the  best  that  were  present  in  that 
honorable  assembly  and  great  audience  did  affirm  that  they  had 
not  often  seen  the  like.”  When  this  woman  saw  her  own  child 
stand  up  in  evidence  against  her,  she  burst  into  a  violent  passion, 
“  according  to  her  accustomed  manner,  outrageously  cursing, 
cried  out  against  the  child  in  such  a  fearful  manner,  as  all  the 
court  did  not  a  little  wonder  at  her,  and  so  amazed  the  child,  as 
with  weeping  tears  she  cried  out  to  my  lord  the  judge,  and  told 
him  she  was  not  able  to  speak  in  the  presence  of  her  mother.” 
In  the  end  they  were  obliged  to  take  Elizabeth  Device  away,  and 
then  the  daughter  gave  her  evidence  unconcerned.  The  other 
prisoners  were  then  brought  to  their  trial  in  succession.  Four, 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  WITCHES. 


279 


Chattox,  Elizabeth  Device,  and  the  two  children  of  the  latter 
(James  and  Alizon),  had  made  confessions,  and  therefore  they 
had  little  to  hope.  With  them  were  convicted  Anne  Redferne, 
Alice  Nutter,  Katharine  Hewit,  John  Bulcock,  and  his  wife  Jane, 
all  of  Pendle,  and  Isabel  Roby,  of  Wfndle,  in  the  parish  of  Pres¬ 
ent,  who  maintained  their  innocence  to  the  last.  They  were  all 
burnt  the  day  after  their  trial,  “  at  the  common  place  of  execu¬ 
tion  near  to  Lancaster.”  One  Margaret  Pearson,  of  Padiham, 
though  convicted  of  being  a  witch,  was  dealt  more  leniently  with, 
being  only  condemned  to  exposure  on  the  pillory.  Two  others 
were  acquitted. 

Young  Jennet  Device,  who  for  her  age  appears  to  have  pos¬ 
sessed  at  least  as  evil  disposition  as  any  of  them,  was  spared  as 
the  principal  evidence  against  the  accused.  Her  declaration 
proved  that  she  was  not  unacquainted  with  the  practices  of  her  pa¬ 
rents,  and  she  confessed,  “  that  her  mother  had  taught  her  two  pray¬ 
ers,  the  one  to  cure  the  bewitched,  and  the  other  to  get  drink.”* 

*  The  prayer,  or  rather  charm,  to  cure  those  bewitched,  which  Jennet  Device  had 
learned  from  her  mother,  was  as  follows,  and  from  its  phraseology  was  evidently 
then  of  considerable  antiquity. 

“  Upon  Good  Friday,  I  will  fast  while  I  may 
Untill  I  heare  them  knell 
Onr  Lord’s  owne  bell. 

Lord  in  his  messe 

With  his  twelve  apostles  good, 

What  hath  he  in  his  hand  ? 

Ligh  in  leath  wand. 

What  hath  he  in  his  other  hand? 

Heaven’s  doore  key. 

Open,  open,  heaven  doore  keyes. 

Steck,  steck,  hell  doore 
Let  crizum  child 
Goe  to  its  mother  mild. 

What  is  yonder  that  casts  a  light  so  farrandly  ? 

Mine  owne  deare  sonne  that  ’s  naild  to  the  tree. 

He  is  naild  sore  by  the  heart  and  baud, 

And  holy  harne  panne. 

Well  is  that  man, 

That  Fryday  spell  can, 

His  child  to  learne  ; 

A  cross  of  blew,  and  another  of  red, 

As  good  Lord  was  to  the  roode. 

Gabriel  laid  him  downe  to  sleepe 
Upon  the  ground  of  holy  weepej 
Good  Lord  came  walking  by, 

Sleepst  thou,  wakest  thou,  Gabriel  ? 

No,  Lord,  1  am  sted  with  sticke  and  stake, 

That  I  can  neither  sleepe  nor  wake. 

Rise  up,  Gabriel,  and  goe  with  me, 

The  sticke  nor  the  stake  shall  never  deere  thee. 

Sweet  Jesus,  our  Lord,  amen. 

It  is  a  mere  farrago  of  popish  religious  verses. 


280 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


One  other  of  the  witches  who  met  at  the  fatal  assembly  in  Mal¬ 
kin  tower  was  brought  to  the  scaffold  at  the  same  time.  This 
was  Jennet  Preston,  of  Gisborne,  in  Craven,  who  was  tried  at 
York  for  bewitching  some  members  of  the  family  of  Lister,  in 
Craven,  and  for  other  similar  offences  ;  but  the  principal  evidence 
agaipst  her  was  derived  from  the  confessions  of  Elizabeth,  James, 
and  Jennet  Device.  It  was  she  who  rode  to  the  Malkin  tower 
on  a  white  foal.  She  died  without  confession. 

Jennet  Device  only  escaped  the  scaffold  on  this  occasion,  as 
it  has  been  supposed,  to  undergo  somewhat  later  the  same  dread- 
fnl  punishment  that  she  had  brought  on  so  many  of  her  relatives. 
Twenty  years  after  the  events  detailed  above,  the  witches  still 
continued  to  hold  their  meetings  in  the  forest  of  Pendle,  in  great¬ 
er  numbers  than  ever,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  the  old  ren¬ 
dezvous  at  Malkin  tower  seems  to  have  been  deserted,  and  they 
now  assembled  at  a  place  at  some  distance  from  it  named  the 
Hoar-stones,  a  house  which  is  said  to  be  still  standing.  On  the 
]  Oth  of  February,  1633,  a  lad  named.  Edmund  Robinson,  the  son 
of  a  poor  mason  in  Pendle  forest,  made  the  following  strange 
declaration  before  two  justices  of  the  peace.  He  said  that  on 
All  Saints’  day,  in  the  preceding  year,  he  was  gathering  bullies 
or  wild  plums  in  Wheatley  lane,  when  he  saw  two  greyhounds, 
one  black  and  the  other  brown,  running  over  the  next  field  to¬ 
ward  him.  They  came  to  him  familiarly,  and  then  he  perceived 
they  had  each  a  collar,  which  “  did  shine  like  gold,”  and  to  which 
a  string  was  attached.  Seeing  that  nobody  followed  the  grey¬ 
hounds,  he  imagined  they  belonged  to  some  of  the  neighbors  and 
had  broke  loose,  and,  as  at  that  moment  a  hare  started  up  at  a 
short  distance  from  him,  he  thought  he  would  set  them  to  hunt 
it,  and  pointing  at  it,  he  cried,  “  Loo,  loo  !”  but  to  no  purpose,  for 
the  dogs  would  not  run.  “  Whereupon,  being  very  angry,  he 
took  them,  and  with  the  strings  that  were  at  their  collars,  tied 
either  of  them  to  a  little  bush  at  the  next  hedge,  and.  with  a  rod 
that  he  had  in  his  hand  he  beat  them  ;  and  instead  of  the  black 
greyhound  one  Dickinson’s  wife  stood  up,  a  neighbor  whom  this 
informer  knoweth,  and  instead  of  the  brown  greyhound  a  little 
boy  whom  this  informer  knoweth  not.”  Young  Robinson  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  state  that,  in  his  terror,  he  attempted  to  run  away,  but 
was  arrested  by  the  woman,  who  “  put  her  hand  into  her  pocket, 
and  pulled  out  a  piece  of  silver  much  like  unto  a  fair  shilling, 
and  offered  to  give  him  to  hold  his  tongue,  and  not  to  tell,  which 
he  refused,  saying,  ‘  Nay,  thou  art  a  witch!’  Whereupon  she 
put  her  hand  into  her  pocket  again,  and  pulled  out  a  string  like 


YOUNG  ROBINSON’S  ADVENTURES.  281 

J!el°HlntridjLlhat  J'n!!ldVWhich  She  P"*  «pon  the  little  boy’s 
?  ,P  ln  th*  browri  greyhound’s  stead,  whereupon 

onnn  Vi  b°'\St£0<?  Up  a  whlte  b«rse.”  The  woman  now  seized 
I  (  n  Edmund  Robinson,  placed  him  on  the  horse  before  her  and 
rode  with  him  to  Hoar-stones,  where  “  there  were  divers  persons 
bout  the  door,  and  he  saw  divers  others  coming  riding  upon 
res  to  a°b  T’Rra  c°lors  toward  the  house,  which  tied  their  hor- 

into  the  seCl8<l  near  t0  l  ue  Sa'd  house  5  and  which  persons  went 
the  said  house,  to  the  number  of  threescore  or  thereabouts 

s  this  informer  thinketh,  where  they  had  a  fire  and  meat  roast’ 

wmmn  T®  w  meatfstirri"g  «  the  house,  whereof  a  young 
nan,  whom  he  this  informer  knoweth  not,  gave  him  flesh  and 

«reVeP™fuase‘dena0lier’  "fit**  “  ‘  f".  after  , he  fat 

taste  lie  refused,  and  would  have  no  more,  and  said  it  was  naught 

nd  presently  after,  seeing  divers  of  the  company  going  to  a  barn 

near  adjemmg,  he  followed  after,  and  thereL  LI  sil  of  , hem 

to'the  tooPo  tbS  l‘  S‘X  Serer“'  r°r  'Vhich  were  fas,en<!d  OT 
tied  to  the  top  of  the  house,  at  or  with  which  pulling  came  then 

as  it  were0™?"’8  ^  ^  Smokil)8’  butter  in  lumP*>  and  milk, 
into  bn!  ’  S}Keillg  (strair\lnS)  from  the  said  ropes,  all  which  fell 
n  o  basins  which  were  placed  under  the  said  ropes.  And  after 

and  l16Se  S1Vlad  d0ne>  there  Came  other  six  which  did  likewise 

faces  Ztfeaaed>Vlmef°f  ‘h<iir  P,ulIing’  they  '>'“de  ^h  foul 
run  home  it  fa mformer,  so  as  he  was  glad  to  steal  out  and 
un  home.  He  further  stated  that  the  women  in  the  barn  had 

thorns.  plctures  <*  which  they  were  prickl„™wfth 

of  fa^'Tb  WaS7°V”g  R?b‘il,son’s  discovered,  than  a  party 

fa  fane  fa’  “V'T  'he  f°rem°f  was  Dickmso’n’s  w,feP j  J 
mentioned,  the  wife  of  a  man  named  Loynd  or  Loyne,  and  Jen¬ 
net  Device,*  joined  in  the  pursuit,  and  they  had  nearly  overtaken 
’!\ ,a  Spot  whlch  bore  lhe  somewhat  ominous  name  of  Boo-- 
fo  rS6’  WRCn  appearance  of  two  horsemen  caused  them 
o  desist.  His  troubles,  however,  were  not  thus  ended,  for  on 
his  return  home  in  the  evening,  “  his  father  bade  him  go  fetch 
home  two  kyne  to  seale  (tie  up  in  their  stalls),  and  in  the  way 
in  a  field  called  the  Oilers,  he  chanced  to  hap  upon  a  boy  who 
began  to  quarrel  with  him,  and  they  fought  so  together  till  this 
informer  had  his  ears  made  very  bloody  by  fighting,  and  looking 
down  he  saw  the  boy  had  a  cloven  foot,  at  which  sight  he  was 

n  *  T5®re  js  som?  ronm-  after  "H.  for  doubt  if  this  Jennet  Device  be  the  same  who 
Vued  in  the  trials  m  1612.  In  the  copy  of  the  deposition  in  Lord  Londesboroii 'h’u 
manuscript  she  is  described  as  “  Jennet  Device  uxor  Willielmi  Device.”  ° 


282 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


afraid,  and  ran  away  from  him  to  seek  the  kyne.  And  in  the 
way  he  saw  a  light  like  a  lantern,  toward  which  he  made  haste, 
supposing  it  to  be  carried  by  some  of  Mr.  Robinson’s  people  [one 
of  their  more  wealthy  neighbors]  ;  but  when  he  came  to  the 
place,  he  only  found  a  woman  standing  on  a  bridge,  whom,  when 
he  saw  her,  he  knew  to  be  Loynd’s  wife,  and  knowing  her,  he 
turned  back  again,  and  immediately  he  met  with  the  aforesaid 
boy,  from  whom  he  offered  to  run,  which  boy  gave  him  a  blow  on 
the  back  which  caused  him  to  cry.”  The  boy’s  father,  in  con¬ 
firmation  of  this  story,  acknowledged  sending  him  for  the  two 
kyne,  and  added  that,  thinking  he  stayed  longer  than  he  should 
have  done,  “  he  went,  to  seek  him,  and  in  seeking  him  heard  him 
cry  very  pitifully,  and  found  him  so  afraid  and  distracted,  that  he 
neither  knew  his  father,  nor  did  he  know  where  he  was,  and  so 
continued  very  near  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  he  came  to  him¬ 
self,”  when  he  told  his  father  the  same  story  which  he  now  re¬ 
peated  before  the  magistrates. 

The  boy  Robinson,  in  his  deposition,  mentioned  the  names  of 
such  of  the  persons  present  at  the  meeting  at  Hoar-stones  as  he 
knew,  who  were  immediately  seized  and  committed  to  Lancaster 
castle.  As  he  said  he  should  recognise  the  others  if  he  saw 
them,  he  was  carried  about  by  his  father  and  others  to  the 
churches  of  the  neighboring  parishes  to  examine  congregations, 
and  in  this  way  he  gained  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  John 
Webster,  whose  “  Displaying  of  Witchcraft”  is  one  of  the  best 
books  on  the  subject  published  during  the  seventeenth  century, 
has  given  us  a  curious  account  of  these  proceedings.  “  It  came 
to  pass,”  he  says,  “  that  this  said  boy  was  brought  into  the  church 
of  Kildwick,  a  large  parish  church  where  I  (being  then  curate 
there)  was  preaching  in  the  afternoon,  and  was  set  upon  a  stall 
(he  being  but  about  ten  or  eleven  years  old)  to  look  about  him, 
which  moved  some  little  disturbance  in  the  congregation  for  a 
while.  And  after  prayers  I  inquiring  what  the  matter  was,  the 
people  told  me  that  it  was  the  boy  that  discovered  witches,  upon 
which  I  went  to  the  house  where  he  was  to  stay  all  night,  where 
I  found  him  and  two  very  unlikely  f ill-looking )  persons  that  did 
conduct  him  and  manage  his  business.  I  desired  to  have  some 
discourse  with  the  boy  in  private,  but  that  they  utterly  refused. 
Then,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  many  people,  I  took  the  boy 
near  me,  and  said,  ‘  Good  boy,  tell  me  truly,  and  in  earnest,  did 
thou  see  and  hear  such  strange  things  of  the  meeting  of  witches 
as  is  reported  by  many  that  thou  dost  relate,  or  did  not  some  per¬ 
son  teach  thee  to  say  such  things  of  thyself?’  But  the  two  men 


THE  YOUNG  WITCH-FINDER.  283 

not  giving  the  boy  leave  to  answer,  did  pluck  him  from  me,  and 
said  he  had  been  examined  by  two  able  justices  of  the  peace 
and  they  did  never  ask  him  such  a  question  ;  to  whom  I  replied’ 
the  persons  accused  therefore  had  the  more  wrono-.”  ’ 

By  means  like  these,  a  number  of  wretched* persons  were 
thrown  into  prison,  to  the  amount  of  nearly  thirty.  They  were 
no  sooner  arrested,  than  people  were  found  to  accuse  them  of  a 
variety  of  crimes,  chiefly  that  of  killing  or  seriously  injuring  peo- 

tbai  T  CfhS5aft:  II  1S  rather  a  Sln§ular  coincidence  of  names, 
of  Wifi?  Device  was  charged  with  killing  Isabelle  the  wife 
of  W  illiam  Nutter.  I  he  crime  of  another,  Mary  Spencer,  was 
causemg  a  pale  or  cellocke  to  come  to  her  full  of  water  fourteen 
yards  up  a  hill  from  a  well.”  Another,  named  xMargaret  John¬ 
son,  was  accused  of  killing  Henry  Heape,  and  of  wasting  and 
impairing  the  body  of  Jennet  Shackleton.  As  the  evidence  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  otherwise  rather  deficient,  all  these  persons 
were  searched  for  marks,  which  were  found  in  great  abundance 
and  it  is  stated  at  the  end  of  the  list,  that  against  one  person  put 
on  her  trial,  there  was  “  no  evidence  found,  only  in  search  a 
mark  found  on  her  body.”*  At  the  ensuing  a’ssizes  at  W-aster 
the  prisoners  were  all  put  upon  their  trial,  and  no  less  than  sev¬ 
enteen  were  on  such  evidence  found  guilty.  One  of  them  at 
least,  Margaret  Johnson,  had  made  a  confession,  which  as  con¬ 
taining  apparently  an  abstract  of  the  full  character  of  a  witch  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  belief  of  Lancashire  at  this  period,  deserves  to  be 
printed.  _  It  is  here  given,  verbatim,  from  Lord  Londesboroudi’s 
manuscript.  Margaret  Johnson,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1633  be¬ 
fore  the  same  justices  who  had  taken  the  deposition  of  the ’boy 
Kobinson,  said  “  that  betweene  seven  or  eight  yeares  since  shee 
beeing  in  her  house  at  Marsden  in  greate  passion  and  anger  and 
discontented,  and  withall  oppressed  with  some  w^ant,  there  ap¬ 
peared  unto  her  a  spirit  or  devill  in  the  similitude  and  proportion  of  a 
man  apparrelled  in  a  suite  of  blacke,  tied  about  with  silke  pointes 
wdioe  offered  her,  yf  shee  would  give  him  her  soule,  hee  would 
supply  all  her  wantes,  and  bring  to  her  whatsoever  shee  wanted 
or  needed,  and  at  her  appointment  would  helpe  her  to  kill  and 
revenge  her  either  of  men  or  beaste,  or  what  she  desired ;  and 

*  A  very  eurions  vdumc  of  manuscripts  relating  to  magic  and  sorcery  recently  ‘ 
published  by  Lord  Lond e, s borough,  contains  early  copies  of  the  depositions  of  E,b 
round  Robinson  and  Ins  father,  ot  the  confession  of  Margaret  Johnson,  which  is  riven 

Wkt  aaild  °f  the  1St-of  pe,rsf,'ns  brouSht  to  trial,  with  the  description  oLtheir 
marhs,  and  an  enumeration  of  the  crimes  witli  which  they  were  charged  The 

WoriUike  thTp'resent00  ml“UteIy  t0  al)°W  of  this  curious  l’aper  being  printed  in  a 


234 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


after  a  sollicitacion  or  two  shee  contracted  and  condicioned  with 
the  said  devill  or  spiritt  for  her  soule.  And  the  said  devill  bad 
her  call  him  by  the  name  of  Memillion,  and  when  shee  called 
hee  would  bee  ready  to  doe  her  will.  And  shee  saith  that  in  all 
her  talke  and  conference  shee  called  the  said  Memillion  her  god 
.  .  .  And  shee  further  saith  that  shee  was  not  at  the  greate  meet- 
inge  of  the  witches  at  Harestones  in  the  forrest  of  Pendle  on 
All  Saintes  day  last  past,  but  saith  that  shee  was  at  a  second 
meetinge  the  Sunday  after  All  Saintes  day  at  the  place  aforesaid, 
where  there  was  at  that  time  betweene  thirty  and  forty  witches, 
which  did  all  ride  to  the  said  meetinge.  And  the  end  of  the  said 
meetinge  was  to  consult  for  the  killing  and  hurting  of  man  and 
beastes ;  and  that  there  was  one  devill  or  spiritt  that  was  more 
greate  and  grand  devill  then  the  rest,  and  yf  anie  witch  desired  to 
have  such  an  one,  they  might  have  such  an  one  to  kill  or  hurt 
anie  body.  And  shee  further  saith,  that  such  witches  as  have 
sharpe  boanes  are  generally  for  the  devill  to  prick  them  with 
which  have  no  papps  nor  duggs,  but  raiseth  blood  from  the  place 
pricked  with  the  boane,  which  witches  are  more  greate  and  grand 
witches  than  they  which  have  papps  or  dugs.  And  shee  beeing 
further  asked  what  persons  were  at  their  last  meetinge,  she  named 
one  Carpnall  and  his  wife,  Rason  and  his  wife,  Pickhamer  and 
his  wife,  Duffy  and  his  wife,  and  one  Jane  Carbonell,  whereof 
Pickhamer’s  wife  is  the  most  greate,  grand,  and  auncyent  witch  ; 
and  that  one  witch  alone  can  kill  a  beast,  and  yf  they  bidd  their 
spirit  or  devill  to  goo  and  pricke  or  hurt  anie  man  in  anie  partic- 
uler  place,  hee  presently  will  doe  it.  And  that  their  spiritts  have 
usually  knowledge  of  their  bodies.  And  shee  further  saith  the 
men  witches  have  woemen  spiritts,  and  woemen  witches  have 
men  spiritts  ;  and  that  Good  Friday  is  one  of  their  constant  daies 
of  their  generall  meetings,  and  that  on  Good  Friday  last  they  had 
a  meetinge  neere  Pendle  water  side  ;  and  saith  that  their  spirit 
doeth  tell  them  where  their  meetings  must  bee,  and  in  what 
place  ;  and  saith  that  if  a  witch  desire  to  bee  in  anie  place  upon 
a  suddaine,  that  on  a  dogg  or  a  rod  or  a  catt  their  spiritt  will 
presently  convey  them  thither,  or  into  any  roome  in  any  man’s 
house.  But  shee  saith  it  is  not  the  substance  of  their  bodies 
.  that  doeth  goe  into  anie  such  roomes,  but  their  spiritts  that  as¬ 
sume  such  shape  and  forme.  And  shee  further  saith  that  the 
devill,  after  hee  begins  to  sucke,  will  make  a  papp  or  a  dugg  in  a 
short  time,  and  the  matter  hee  sucketh  is  blood.  And  further 
saith  that  the  devil]  can  raise  l’oule  wether  and  stormes,  and  soo 
hee  did  at  their  meetinges.  And  she  further  saith  that  when  the 


THE  IMPOSTURE  DISCOVERED. 


285 


devill  came  to  suck  her  papp,  he  came  to  her  in  the  lickness  of 
a  catt,  sometimes  of  one  collourand  sometimes  of  another.  And 
since  this  trouble  befell  her,  her  spiritt  hath  left  her,  and  shee 
never  sawe  him  since.” 

Although  the  jury  were  satisfied  with  the  evidence  in  this 
case,  such  was  not  the  case  with  the  judge,  who  respited  the 
prisoners,  and  the  affair  was  reported  to  the  king  in  council. 
Charles  I.  had  not  the  same  weak  prejudices  in  these  matters  as 
his  father,  and  by  his  orders,  an  inquiry  was  instituted  at  Ches¬ 
ter,  under  the  direction  of  the  bishop,  the  result  of  which  was 
that  four  of  the  convicted  witches,  Margaret  Johnson  (whose 
confession  has  just  been  given),  Frances  Dickenson,  Mary 
Spencer,  and  the  wife  of  one  of  the  Hargreaves,  were  sent  to 
London,  and  there  examined,  first  by  the  king’s  physicians,  and 
then  by  the  king  in  person.  Strong  suspicions  having  arisen, 
the  boy  was  separated  from  his  father  (they  had  both  been 
brought  to  London),  and  then  he  confessed  that  the  whole  was 
an  imposture,  and  that  he  had  been  taught  to  say  what  he  had 
said  by  his  father  and  some  other  persons  who  had  conspired  to 
get  up  this  story  as  a  profitable  speculation.  He  declared  that  on 
the  day  when  he  said  he  was  carried  to  the  meeting  at  Hoar¬ 
stones,  he  was  a  mile  off  gathering  plums  in  another  man’s 
orchard.  Fortunately  none  of  the  pretended  witches  had  been 
executed. 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  second  great  case  of  witchcraft  in 
Lancashire,  which  became  from  many  circumstances,  but  espe¬ 
cially  by  the  king’s  interference  and  the  transferring  of  the  case 
to  London,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  England.  The  Lan¬ 
cashire  witches  have  gained  a  new  celebrity  at  the  present  day 
by  furnishing  the  plot  of  one  of  the  best  romances  of  one  of  the 
most  popular  and  admired  of  our  writers,' Harrison  Ainsworth. 
The  term  itself  had  become  so  famous  that  it  has  long  been  in 
that  county  transferred  to  a  class  of  witches  of  the  same  sex,  but 
of  a  very  different  character,  and  no  festival  there  is  now  con¬ 
sidered  perfect  until  the  toast  of  “the  Lancashire  Witches”  of 
the  present  day  has  been  drunk. 


286 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WITCHCRAFT  IN  ENGLAND  DURING  THE  EARLIER  PART 
OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

The  case  of  the  Lancashire  witches,  in  1612,  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  grand  exemplification  of  King  James’s  witchcraft 
doctrines  in  England.  Yet  though  the  published  cases  of  witch¬ 
craft  during  that  monarch’s  reign  are  not  very  numerous,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  superstition  itself  was  widely  prevalent 
throughout  the  country,  and  that  it  gave  rise  to  innumerable  in¬ 
stances  of  persecution.  In  the  same  year,  1611,  five  witches 
were  executed  at  Northampton,  of  whom  one  only,  a  man,  made 
a  confession.  He  said  that  he  had  three  spirits,  whom  he 
called  Grissill,  Ball,  and  Jack.  In  1615,  there  was  a  rather 
remarkable  case  of  witchcraft  at  Lynn,  in  Norfolk.  Relations 
of  both  of  these  cases  were  printed,  and  dispersed  abroad.  In 
1618,  an  event  of  this  kind  occurred  on  the  borders  of  the  coun¬ 
ties  of  Leicester  and  Lincoln,  which  was  still  more  remarkable 
as  having  occurred  in  one  of  the  noblest  families  in  the  land. 

Sir  Francis  Manners  succeeded  his  brother  Roger  in  the  earl¬ 
dom  of  Rutland  in  1612,  and  soon  distinguished  himself  by  the 
magnificent  hospitality  which  he  exercised  at  his  castle  of  Bel- 
voir.  He  had  two  sons,  Henry  and  Francis,  and  a  daughter 
Katherine;  the  first  of  these  died  about  the  year  1614,  and  he 
was  followed  to  the  grave  b^  his  younger  brother  within  two 
years.  The  only  remaining  child,  who  afterward  married  the 
duke  of  Buckingham,  was  also  taken  with  a  severe  illness,  from 
which  she  was  hardly  expected  to  recover.  In  the  hamlet  ad¬ 
joining  to  the  castle  there  lived  an  old  woman  named  Joan  Flow¬ 
er,  with  two  daughters,  whose  poverty  excited  the  compassion 
of  the  earl  and  his  lady,  and  the  mother  was  employed  in  the 
castle  as  a  chairwoman,  while  her  eldest  daughter  Margaret  was 
received  into  the  household  as  a  servant.  It  was  soon  found, 
however,  that  Mother  Flowers  was  undeserving  of  the  kindness 
thus  shown  to  her ;  she  gave  offence  by  her  evil  manners,  and 
by  the  disorders  of  her  house,  where  people  of  no  good  reputa¬ 
tion  came  to  visit  her  younger  daughter  Philip,  and  at  last  Mar¬ 
garet  Flower  was  discharged  from  her  place  for  purloining  the 


287 


THE  WITCHES  OF  BELVOIR. 

provisions  at  the  castle  to  furnish  the  visiters  at  her  mother’s 
house.  All  this  had  occurred  before  the  death  of  the  earl’s  chil- 
len  and,  as  the  countess  had  acted  generously  toward  the 

of  malice!^611  ^  ^  dlScharSed’  the7  were  never  suspected 

However  reports  of  a  sinister  character  touching  the  proceed¬ 
ings  of  the  family  of  Joan  Flower  soon  spread  abroad!^  They 
had  gained  the  reputation  of  being  witches,  and  it  began  to  be 

«  W  tT  the  ear!’S  Children  had  Perished  by  their 
agency.  Witches  appear  to  have  been  rather  numerous  in  this 
vicinity,  and  as  the  reports  became  more  rife,  a  number  of  ar- 
resu  including  the  three  Flowers  and  other  persons,  were  made 
jus  before  the  Christmas  of  1617,  and  the  prisoners  were  lodged 
m  Lincoln  jail.  The  mother,  Joan  Flowers,  when  she  was 
committed  to  prison,  is  said  to  have  asked  for  bread  and  butter 
which  she  wished  impiously  might  be  her  death  if  she  were 
gmlty  ol  the  crime  of  which  she  was  accused ;  but  she  no  soon- 

eLlreTPteTht0  She  WaS  ch°ked  and  “^ntly 

vvlf  n  1  16  f ar,  of  Put!and  'vas  at  the  time  in  London; 
/.  ten,  however,  he  heard  ol  the  imprisonment  of  the  witches 
and  the  crimes  that  were  imputed  to  them,  he  hastened  with  his’ 
brother,  Sir  George  Manners,  to  Lincoln,  and  assisted  at  their 
examination.  I  hey  all  confessed,  were,  as  might  be  expected 

yelr  mT*  '  and  WGre  eX6CUted  earlF  in  the  March  of  the 

Among  the  witnesses  on  this  occasion  was  a  woman— appa- 
ently  an  old  one— named  Joan  Willimott,  of  Goodby  in  Leices- 

leth  Pr^.7  confessed  “that  she  hath  a  spirit  which  she  cal¬ 
led  Pretty,  which  was  given  unto  her  by  William  Berry  of 

Lang  holme  in  Rutlandshire,  whom  she  served  three  years  -  and 

W  herflmastf.’  wheni  he  gave  it  unto  her,  willed  her  to ’open 
her  mouth,  and  he  would  blow  into  her  a  fairy  which  should  do 
her  good  ;  and  that  she  opened  her  mouth,  and  he  did  blow  into 
ler  mouth  ;  and  that  presently  after  his  blowing  there  came  out 
of  her  mouth  a  spirit,  which  stood  upon  the  ground,  in  the  shape 
and  form  of  a  woman,  which  spirit  asked  of  her  her  soul  which' 
she  then  promised  unto  it,  being  willed  thereunto  by  her  master, 
bhe  further  confessed,  that  she  never  hurt  anybody,  but  did  heln 

dlnenL  th?  SGnt-  f°r  her’  which  were  stricken  or  forespoken  • 
and  that  her  spirit  came  weekly  to  her,  and  would  tell  her  of 

"  The  earl  and  the  countess  were  so  far  satisfied  that  their  children  did  h ,, 
witchcraft,  that  it  was  stated  in  the  inscription  on  their  monument  in  BoUesftS 


288 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


divers  persons  that  were  stricken  and  forespoken.  And  she 
saith,  that  the  use  which  she  had  of  the  spirit,  was  to  know  how 
those  did  which  she  had  undertaken  to  amend  ;  and  that  she  did 
help  them  by  certain  prayers  which  she  used,  and  not  by  her 
own  spirit ;  neither  did  she  employ  her  spirit  in  anything,  but 
only  to  bring  word  how  those  did  that  she  had  undertaken  to  cure.” 

Another  witness,  named  Ellen  Green,  of  Stathorne  in  the 
same  county,  said,  “  that  one  Joan  Willimott  of  Goodby  came 
about  six  years  since  to  her  in  the  Wolds,  and  persuaded  this 
examinate  to  forsake  God,  and  betake  her  to  the  devil,  and  she 
would  give  her  two  spirits,  to  which  she  gave  her  consent,  and 
thereupon  the  said  Joan  Willimott  called  two  spirits,  one  in  the 
likeness  of  a  kitten,  and  the  other  of  a  moldiwarp  [a  mole\  ;  the 
first,  the  said  Willimott  called  Pusse,  the  other  IJiffehiffe,  and 
they  presently  came  to  her ;  and  she  departing  left  them  with 
the  examinate,  and  they  leaped  on  her  shoulder  ;  and  the  kitten 
sucked  under  her  right  ear  or  her  neck,  and  the  moldiwarp  on 
the  left  side  in  the  like  place.  After  they  had  sucked  her,  she 
sent  the  kitten  to  a  baker  of  that  town,  whose  name  she  remem¬ 
bers  not,  who  had  called  her  witch  and  struck  her  ;  and  bade  her 
said  spirit  go  and  bewitch  him  to  death.  The  moldiwarp  she 
then  bade  go  to  Anne  Dawson  of  the  same  town  and  bewitch 
her  to  death,  because  she  had  called  this  examinate  witch  and 
jade;  and  within  one  fortnight  they  both  died.  And  further, 
this  examinate  saith,  that  she  sent  both  her  spirits  to  Stonesby, 
to  one  Willison,  a  husbandman,  and  Robert  Willi  man,  a  hus¬ 
bandman’s  son,  and  bade  the  kitten  go  to  Willison  and  bewitch 
him  to  death,  and  the  moldiwarp  to  the  other  and  bewitch  him  to 
death,  which  they  did,  and  within  ten  days  they  died.  These 
four  were  bewitched  while  this  examinate  dwelt  at  Waltham  afore¬ 
said.  About  three  years  since,  this  examinate  removed  thence  to 
Stathorne,  where  she  now  dwelt;  upon  a  difference  between 
the  said  Willimott  and  the  wife  of  John  Patcliet  of  the  said  Sta¬ 
thorne,  yeoman,  she,  the  said  Willimott,  called  her,  this  exami¬ 
nate,  to  go  and  touch  the  said  John  Patchet’s  wife  and  her  child, 
which  she  did,  touching  the  said  John  Patchet’s  wife  in  her 
bed,  and  the  child  in  the  grace-wife’s  arms,  and  then  sent  her 
said  spirits  to  bewitch  them  to  death,  which  they  did,  and  so 
the  woman  lay  languishing  by  the  space  of  a  month  and  more, 
for  then  she  died  :  the  child  died  the  next  day  after  she  touched 
it.  And  she  further  saith,  that  the  said  Joan  Willimott  had  a 
spirit  sucking  on  her  under  the  left  flank  in  the  likeness  of  a 
little  white  dog,  which  this  examinate  saith  that  she  saw  the 


THE  WITCHES  OF  BELVOIR.  289 

rsaMUta„glVilS?!'rVeS‘  ^  ^  t,len  at  ,he  h»“^  f 

Both  the  daughters  of  Mother  Flowers  confessed  and  Mar 

fh , iTtf ^  R„«Ia„0d1”fa™i1Cv0U”.,S°I  “,e  r“f  "**  ’relatil1*  to 

abo„  four  or  •her^tjfhe^Z^iSr 

fCo  iss 

wno  stroked  Rutterkm,  her  cat,  with  it ;  after  it  was  dinned  in 
Hn  I6 n  a”f  S°  l)ncked  often,  after  which  Henry  Lord 

si  t1*"1  » .m,4.o«ss 

4™r^!toJrfhS,T^T,hl‘fl5di"8  a  S’0™  about  two  or 
1 ;  (  -  .  1  *  rancis  Loid  Rosse  on  a  dunghill  she  de 

"Vj^  trdsahS 

bewitch' rtf  r°ltherf",d  Slw’  and  W  siater,  agreed  toge  er  to 
eh  Udren  "FI  '  ,h'S  '  ,hat  'W  might  have  “no  mo  e 

a“uT-will  s  e  Sd,lTtd,tl;e  Cai,S°°f  lh!s  *heir  malice 

/  e  s«tn,  that  about  four  years  since  the  rnnnteeo 

(growmg  into  some  mislike  with  her)  gave  her  forty  SnT 

no  mo^’tol  *  TVf'  *"d  '“de  4  bide  at  homLnfcoTe 
revenged  Seat  to"  be 

5lSfSSl=SSHS 

;  t  ztit-'B;  a  E.S,  ::~ 

Ppsaas 

further  confessed,  that  by  her  mother’s  commandment  she 
brought  to  her  a  piece  of  a  handkerchief  of  the  lady  Katherine 

thin? b S  daughter »  and  her  mother  put  it  into  hot  water  and 
then  taking  it  out  rubbed  it  on  Rutterkm,  bidding  him  fly  and  an 

whereupon  Rutterkm  whined  and  cried  ‘  Mew  whereupon  she 

25 


290 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


said,  that  Rutterkin  had  no  power  over  the  lady  Katherine  to 
hurt  her.”  Her  sister,  Philip  Flowers,  declared,  that  “  about 
the  30th  of  January  last  past,  being  Saturday,  four  devils  ap¬ 
peared  unto  her  in  Lincoln  jail,  at  eleven  or  twelve  o’clock  at 
midnight ;  the  one  stood  at  her  bed’s  foot,  with  a  blackhead  like 
an  ape,  and  spake  unto  her,  but  what  she  can  not  well  remem¬ 
ber,  at  which  she  was  very  angry,  because  he  would  speak  no 
plainer,  or  let  her  understand  his  meaning  :  the  other  three  were 
Rutterkin,  little  Robin,  and  Spirit,  but  she  never  mistrusted  them, 
nor  suspected  herself  till  then.” 

The  Roman  catholics  in  England  were  very  active  during  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  and  they  attempted  to  take  advantage  of  the 
popular  credulity  in  getting  up  cases  of  possession  in  imitation 
of  their  brethren  on  the  continent ;  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
cases  of  this  kind  occurred  in  Lancaster  in  1612,  and  led  to  a 
trial  on  the  same  day  with  that  of  the  witches  of  Pendle. 

The  village  of  Samlesbury  is  at  some  distance  from  the  Pen¬ 
dle  district,  nearer  to  Preston,  but  it  was  probably  the  reports  of 
the  deeds  of  Mothers  Demdike  and  Chattox  that  suggested  the 
plot  now  to  be  related.  The  principal  family  in  this  township 
were  the  Southworths,  who  had  their  head  seat  at  Samlesbury 
park,  and  who  seem  to  have  been  much  divided  among  themselves 
— a  division  which  was  increased  by  religious  differences,  for 
some  of  them  were  protestants  and  others  catholics.  Lancashire 
was  at  this  time  remarkable  for  the  number  of  papists  which  it 
harbored — it  was  the  grand  asylum  of  the  English  seminary 
priests,  and  there  are  documents  which  show  that  Samlesbury 
park  was  a  well-known  resort  of  the  partisans  of  Rome.  One 
of  these  priests  was  Christopher  Southworth,  who  for  conceal¬ 
ment  had  assumed  the  name  of  Thompson,  and  who  appears  to 
have  been  nearly  related  to  Sir  John  Southworth,  the  occupier 
of  the  park,  who  was  then  recently  dead.  Between  Sir  John 
and  one  of  his  female  relations,  Jane  Southworth,  there  was  a 
bitter  feud,  for  what  reason  is  not  stated ;  a  servant  of  Sir 
John’s,  named  John  Singleton,  deposed,  that  “  he  had  often 
heard  his  old  master  say,  that  the  said  Jane  Southworth  was,  as 
he  thought,  an  evil  woman  and  a  witch;”  and  he  added,  “  that 
the  said  Sir  John  Southworth,  in  his  coming  or  going  between 
his  own  house  at  Samlesbury  and  the  town  of  Preston,  did  for 
the  most  part  forbear  to  pass  by  the  house  where  the  said  wife 
dwelt,  though  it  was  his  nearest  and  best  way,  and  rode  another 
way,  only  for  fear  of  the  said  wife,  as  this  examinate  verily 
fhinketh.”  This  statement  was  confirmed  by  another  witness, 


THE  WITCHES  OF  SAMLESBUKY.  291 

a  yeoman  of  Samlesbnry,  named  William  Alker,  who  deposed 

w  feaVl6  Seei‘  tUe  Sa‘d  ^  J°hn  shun  the  said 

wife  when  he  came  near  where  she  was,  and  hath  heard  the 

uK  lr  John  say  that  he  liked  her  not,  and  that  he  doubted  she 

ther  twT' '  q "“L  Af  far  aS  We  Can  §ather>  *  appears  fur- 

ier,  that  Jane  Southworth  was  a  recent  convert  from  Romanism 
to  the  church  of  England.  Romanism 

Jhere  was  in  the  same  village  a  family  of  the  name  of  Bier- 
Wl  3  T  Bier  ley  was  an  aged  woman,  who  appears  to  have 

had  m!rLaTrg  Ellen  BierIey  !  her  own  daughter 

an  bvahr  erdi?rr  S^wer^ts  °r  Samlesbur7,  a  husbandman, 
and  by  her  he  had  a  daughter,  Grace  Sowerbuts,  who  was  at 

is  time  about  fourteen  years  of  age.  Jennet  and  Ellen  Bier- 

anVlJmre  F  anitSnV  llle  Thomas  Sowerbuts  was  a  catholic, 
and  here  was  probably  a  quarrel  between  them  on  account  of 

the  el igion  of  the  child,  which  Thomas  Sowerbuts  resolved 
should  be  that  of  Rome,  and  for  that  purpose  he  sent  her  for 
1  ehgious  instruction  to  the  priest  Thompson  {alias  Southworth) 

Pen  dip1  r  °rf0Ut  !he  tlme  0f  the  seiz^e  of  the  witches  of 
tits  ,nd  fe°7erb1Uts  P^tended  to  be  seized  with  strange 

tits,  and  she  was  found  in  a  sort  of  trance  among  the  hay  and 

therltld  f  bTn’  rr,  S!‘e  was  taken  to  her  father’s  house,  and 

lennpf  id  ?  in'7  WJ \  et  t0  the  arrest  of  Jane  Southworth,  and 
tJer "  ap  "p,EUen  Bierley,  and  they  were  committed  to  Lancas- 

lndJ  tl  ‘  rey  Weo  br0U,ght  t0  trial  on  the  19th  of  August,  1612, 

effect  that  ,S°Werb"ts  made  a  statement  in  court,  to  the 

etiect  that  after  having  been  “  haunted  and  vexed”  for  some 

years  by  the  prisoners  and  another  confederate,  named  Old  Doe- 

liead  m  thp  ^  Tmf  had  ktely  draWn  her  b^  the  hair  of  tho 
head  to  the  top  of  a  hay-mow,  where  they  left  her.  Not  lono- 

after  this,  Jennet  Bierley  met  her  near  her  home,  appearing  to 

“  m„human  llkeness>  “  and  after  that  in  the  likeness  of  a 
black  dog,  and  attempted  to  terrify  her.  The  girl  told  her 
father  what  had  happened,  and  how  she  had  often  been  “  haunt¬ 
ed  m  this  manner  ;  and  being  asked  by  the  court  why  she 
never  told  anybody  before,  she  said,  “she  could  not  speak 
thereof,  though  she  desired  so  to  do.”  Soon  after  this,  on  the 
fourth  ol  April,  “  going  toward  Samlesbury  back  to  meet  her 
mother,  coming  from  Preston,  she  saw  the  said  Jennet  Bierley 
who  met  this  exanimate  at  a  place  called  the  Two  Brigs  first 
in  her  own  shape  and  afterward  in  the  likeness  of  a  bla°ck  dog 
with  two  legs,  which  dog  went  close  by  the  left  side  of  this  ex¬ 
animate  till  they  came  to  a  pit  of  water,  and  then  the  said  dog 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


OQO 

(Vi/ v 

spake,  and  persuaded  this  examinate  to  drown  herself  therein, 
saying  it  was  a  fair  and  an  easy  death  ;  whereupon  this  exami¬ 
nate  thought  there  came  one  to  her  in  a  white  sheet,  and  carried 
her  away  from  the  said  pit,  upon  the  coming  whereof  the  said 
black  dog  departed  away.”  The  dog  subsequently  returned,  and 
carried  her  to  a  neighbor’s  barn,  where  it  left  her  in  a  trance  on 
the  floor.  She  went  on  to  describe  other  instances  of  persecu¬ 
tion  by  the  witches,  and  declared  that  on  one  occasion  her  grand¬ 
mother  and  aunt  had  taken  her  by  night  to  the  house  of  a  man 
named  Thomas  Walshman,  which  they  entered  “  she  knew  not 
how,”  and  Jennet  Bierley  caused  the  death  of  an  infant  child  ; 
and  the  night  after  the  burial  of  the  child,  “  the  said  Jennet  Bier¬ 
ley,  and  Ellen  Bierley,  taking  this  examinate  with  them,  went 
to  Samlesbury  church,  and  there  did  take  up  the  said  child,  and 
the  said  Jennet  did  carry  it  out  of  the  churchyard  in  her  arms, 
and  then  did  put  it  in  her  lap  and  carried  it  home  to  her  own 
house,  and  having  it  there,  did  boil  some  thereof  in  a  pot,  and 
some  did  broil  on  the  coals,  of  both  which  the  said  Jennet  and 
Ellen  did  eat,  and  would  have  had  this  examinate,  and  one  Grace 
Bierley,  daughter  of  the  said  Ellen,  to  have  eaten  with  them, 
but  they  refused  so  to  do.  And  afterward  the  said  Jennet  and  El¬ 
len  did  seethe  (boil)  the  bones  of  the  said  child  in  a  pot,  and  with 
the  fat  that  came  out  of  the  said  bones  they  said  they  would 
anoint  themselves,  that  thereby  they  might  sometimes  change 
themselves  into  other  shapes.  And  after  all  this  being  done, 
they  said  they  would  lay  the  bones  again  in  the  grave  the  next 
night  following,  but  whether  they  did  so  or  not  this  examinate 
knoweth  not ;  neither  doth  she  know  how  they  got  it  out  of  the 
grave  at  the  first  taking  of  it  up.”  She  next  stated,  that  “  about 
half  a  year  ago,  the  said  Jennet  Bierley,  Ellen  Bierley,  Jane 
Southworth,  and  this  examinate  (who  went  by  the  appointment 
of  the  said  Jennet,  her  grandmother),  did  meet  at  a  place  called 
Redbank,  upon  the  north  side  of  the  water  of  Ribble,  every 
Thursday  and  Sunday  at  night,  by  the  space  of  a  fortnight,  and  at 
the  water-side  there  came  unto  them,  as  they  went  thither,  four 
black  things,  going  upright,  and  yet  not  like  men  in  the  face, 
which  four  did  carry  the  said  three  women  and  this  examinate 
over  the  water ;  and  when  they  came  to  the  said  Redbank,  they 
found  something  there  which  they  did  eat.  .  .  .  And  after 

they  had  eaten,  the  said  three  women  and  this  examinate  danced, 
every  one  of  them  with  one  of  the  black  things  aforesaid.”  . 

.  She  proceeded  to  describe  further  acts,  familiar  to  those  who 
enter  into  the  minutiae  of  sorcery,  and  which  seem  to  have  been 


THE  WITCHES  OF  SAMLESBURY. 


293 


taken  from  the  foreign  books  on  the  subject,  and  then  described 
other  persecutions  to  which  she  had  been  subjected,  until  the 
time  of  the  arrest  of  the  prisoners. 

It  was  not  the  fashion  at  this  time  to  submit  witnesses  in  such 
cases  to  a  strict  cross-examination,  nor  did  any  one  think  of  op¬ 
ening  the  grave  of  the  child  to  ascertain  in  what  condition  the 
body  might  then  be ;  but  Thomas  Walshman  deposed  that  his 
child  died  about  the  time  stated,  though  he  said  that  it  had  been 
sick  for  some  time.  Witnesses  were  also  examined  as  to  Grace 
feowerbuts’  fits,  and  the  father  and  one  or  two  other  witnesses 
gave  their  evidence  in  corroboration  of  her  statements.  The 
evidence  was  thus  in  due  order  taken,  and  the  jury  was  no 
doubt  ready  to  give  a  verdict  against  the  prisoners,  when  the 
judge,  oir  Edward  Bromley,  demanded  of  the  latter  what  thev 
had  to  say  for  themselves.  The  sequel  may  be  told  best  in  the 
rather  dramatic  language  of  the  report  of  the  trial.  The  three 
pnsoners,  instead  of  being  abashed  as  persons  under  such  cir¬ 
cumstances  usually  were,  “  humbly  upon  their  knees,  with  weep¬ 
ing  tears,  desired  him  for  God’s  cause  to  examine  Grace  Sower- 
buts,  who  set  her  on,  or  by  whose  means  this  accusation  came 
against  them.  Immediately  the  countenance  of  this  Grace  Sow- 
erbuts  changed  ;  the  witnesses,  being  behind,  began  to  quarrel 
and  accuse  one  another.  In  the  end  his  lordship  examined  the 
girl,  who  could  not  for  her  life  make  any  direct  answer,  but 
strangely  amazed,  told  him  she  was  put  to  a  master  to  learn,  but 
he  told  her  nothing  of  this.  But  here,  as  his  lordship’s  care  and 
pains  were  great  to  discover  the  practices  of  these  odious  witches 
ol  the  forest  ol  Pendle  and  other  places  now  upon  their  trial  be¬ 
fore  him,  so  was  he  desirous  to  discover  this  damnable  practice 
to  accuse  these  poor  women  and  bring  their  lives  in  danger,  and 
thereby  to  deliver  the  innocent.  And  as  he  openly  delivered  it 
upon  the  bench,  in  the  hearing  of  this  great  audience,  that  if  a 
pi  lest  01  Jesuit  had  a  hand  in  one  end  of  it,  there  would  appear 
to  be  knavery  and  practice  in  the  other  end  of  it,  and  that  it  mioht 
the  better  appear  to  the  whole  world,  examined  Thomas  Sower- 
buts  what  master  taught  his  daughter ;  in  general  terms  he 
denied  all.  The  wench  had  nothing  to  say,  but  her  master  told 
her  nothing  ol  that.  In  the  end,  some  that  were  present  told  his 
lordship  the  truth,  and  the  prisoners  informed  him  how  she  went 
to  learn  with  one  Thompson,  a  seminary  priest,  who  had  in¬ 
structed  and  taught  her  this  accusation  against  them,  because 
they  were  once  obstinate  papists,  and  now  came  to  church. 
Here  is  the  discovery  of  this  priest,  and  of  his  whole  practice. 


294 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC 


Still  this  fire  increased  more  and  more,  and,  one  witness  accu¬ 
sing  another,  all  things  were  laid  open  at  large.  In  the  end, 
his  lordship  took  away  the  girl  from  her  father,  and  committed 
her  to  Mr.  Leigh,  a  very  religious  preacher,  and  Mr.  Chisnal, 
two  justices  of  the  peace,  to  be  carefully  examined.” 

Grace  Sowerbuts  now  made  a  full  confession  ;  she  declared 
that  all  she  said  before  had  been  taught  her  by  the  priest ;  that 
it  was  a  mere  invention  ;  that  her  fits  were  counterfeit :  and  that 
she  had,  by  her  own  will,  gone  into  the  barn  and  other  places 
where  she  was  found. 

Eight  years  after  this  trial,  in  1620,  occurred  a  somewhat  sim¬ 
ilar  case,  which  made  a  great  sensation  at  the  time.  There  was 
at  Bilston,  in  Staffordshire,  a  poor  boy  twelve  years  old,  named 
William  Percy,  the  son  of  a  husbandman  of  that  place.  One 
day  as  he  was  coming  home  from  school,  he  met  an  old  woman 
whom  he  had  never  seen  before,  but  who,  as  it  was  afterward 
pretended,  was  a  poor  woman  of  the  neighborhood,  named  Joan 
Cock  ;  she  taxed  him  that  he  did  not  wish  her  good  day,  and  told 
him  that  he  was  a  foul  thing,  and  that  it  had  been  better  for  him  if 
he  had  saluted  her.  This  was  the  account  which  the  lad  gave,  and 
he  had  no  sooner  reached  home  than  he  was  seized  with  dreadful 
fits.  It  appears  that  there  were  many  Roman  catholics  residing  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Bilston,  and  to  some  of  these  the  boy’s  pa¬ 
rents  applied  for  advice  and  assistance.  As  soon  as  the  boy  was 
exorcised  according  to  the  forms  directed  by  the  Romish  church, 
he  became  calm,  and  in  reply  to  questions  put  to  him,  he  declared 
that  he  was  bewitched,  and  that  he  was  possessed  by  three  devils. 
Besides  the  exorcisms,  the  priests  were  very  liberal  with  holy 
water  and  with  holy  oil,  by  the  plentiful  application  of  which, 
“  with  extreme  fits  and  hearings,  he  brought  up  pins,  wool, 
knotted  thread,  thrums,  rosemary,  walnut-leaves,  feathers,  &c.” 
This  we  learn  from  the  priest,  who  drew  up  the  account  of  the 
“  miracle,”  which  was  afterward  printed,  and  who  informs  us, 
among  other  things,  that  “  on  Thursday,  being  Corpus  Christi 
day,  I  came  again,  and  found  the  child  in  great  extremities.  In 
this  time  he  had  brought  up  eleven  pins,  and  a  knitting-needle, 
folded  up  in  divers  folds,  &c.  He  said  the  spirit  bad  him  not  to 
hearken  to  me  in  any  case  ;  that  the  witch  said  she  would  make 
an  end  of  him,  &c.  I  wished  him  to  pray  for  the  witch,  which 
he  did  ;  then  the  child  did  declare  that  now  he  was  perfectly 
himself,  and  desired  that  his  books,  pens,  ink,  cloaths,  might  be 
blessed,  wishing  his  parents,  sisters,  and  brothers,  to  bless  them¬ 
selves,  and  become  catholics  ;  out  of  which  faith,  by  God’s  grace, 


THE  BOY  OF  BILSTON. 


295 


he  said,  he  would  never  live  or  die.  On  Sunday  I  exorcised  him 
and  learned  of  him,  that  while  puritans  were  in  place,  he  saw 
the  devil  assault  him  in  the  form  of  a  blackbird.” 

The  boy  s  fits  and  trances  continued,  sometimes  apparently 
yielding  to  the  exorcisms  of  the  priests,  and  then  again  returning 
as  v  iolent  as  ever.  Meanwhile  the  woman  accused  of  the  witch¬ 
craft  by  the  possessing  devils,  was  arrested  and  carried  before 
the  chancellor  of  the  bishop  of  Litchfield,  by  whose  directions 
\\  uli am  Perry  was  brought  to  confront  her,  when  he  immediate¬ 
ly  fell  into  his  usual  fits,  declaring  that  she  was  his  tormentor. 
On  this  evidence  she  was  committed  to  Stafford  jail,  and  brought 
to  trial  on  the  tenth  of  August,  but  the  jury,  not  satisfied  with  the 
evidence,  acquitted  her. 

I  he  judges,  who  seem  to  have  suspected  the  truth,  committed 
the  boy  to  the  care  of  the  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Litchfield,  who 
happened  to  be  present,  and  he  carried  him  home  with  him  to 
Eccleshall  castle.  There  his  fits  and  convulsions  were  repeated, 
and  the  bishop  for  some  time  could  make  nothing  of  him.  At 
length  he  bethought  himself  of  an  experiment  which  would  at 
least  satisfy  himself.  It  appears  that  the  trial  verse  used  by  the 
priests  was  the  first  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  gospel  of  St. 
John,  the  words  of  which  were  no  sooner  commenced  than  the 
boy  was  seized  with  the  most  violent  symptoms.  The  bishop 
took  a  Greek  testament  in  his  hand,  and  said  to  the  patient, 
Boy,  it  is  either  thou  or  the  devil  that  abhorrest  those  words 
of  the  gospel,  and  it  it  be  the  devil,  he  (being  so  ancient  a  schol¬ 
ar  as  of  almost  of  six  thousand  years’  standing)  knows  and  un¬ 
derstands  all  languages,  so  that  he  can  not  but  know  when  I  re¬ 
cite  the  same  sentence  out  of  the  Greek  text ;  but  if  it  be  thy¬ 
self,  then  art  thou  an  execrable  wretch,  who  plays  the  devil’s  part, 
wherefore  look  to  thyself,  for  now  thou  art  to  be  put  to  trial,  and 
mark  diligently  whether  it  be  that  same  scripture  which  shall  be 
read.  Then  the  bishop  read  the  twelfth  verse  of  the  chapter, 
and  the  boy  supposing  it  was  the  first,  fell  into  his  usual  convul¬ 
sions  ;  but,  alter  the  fit  was  passed  over,  and  the  bishop  read  the 
first  verse,  the  boy  thinking  it  was  some  other  passage,  was  not 
affected  at  all. 


The  bishop  was  thus  convinced  of  the  imposture,  but  there 
were  still  some  extraordinary  features  about  the  case  which  re¬ 
quired  explanation,  and  he  let  it  go  on,  that  it  might  be  in  the  end 
more  fully  exposed.  At  length  a  hole  was  made  through  the 
partition  of  the  room  in  which  the  boy  slept,  and  the  bishop 
placed  one  of  his  servants  secretly  to  watch.  A  discovery  was 


29G 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


thus  made  which  left  no  further  doubt  on  the  matter,  and  when 
the  boy  found  himself  detected,  he  changed  countenance  and 
confessed.  The  story  he  told  was,  that  an  old  man  called  Thom¬ 
as,  with  gray  hair  and  “  a  cradle  of  glasse,”  met  him  not  far  from 
his  father’s  house,  and,  entering  into  conversation  with  him,  sug¬ 
gested  this  imposture  as  a  means  of  staying  from  school.  He 
then  taught  him  to  roll  about,  groan,  cast  up  his  eyes,  &c.,  and 
told  him  to  accuse  somebody  who  was  reputed  a  witch.  Some 
papists,  he  said,  recommended  him  to  seek  help  of  the  catholic 
priests.  When  the  bishop  asked  him  if  he  did  not  design  to 
yield  to  their  exorcisms,  he  replied  that  he  did,  but  that  he  had 
continued  the  imposture  so  long,  because  much  people  resorted 
to  him,  and  brought  him  good  things,  and  because  he  was  not 
willing  to  go  to  school  again.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the 
story  of  the  old  man  had  been  suggested  by  the  priests  them¬ 
selves,  in  order  to  conceal  their  own  complicity  in  case  of  a  dis¬ 
covery  of  the  fraud. 

The  dangerous  doctrine,  which  had  long  before  been  acted  up¬ 
on  in  the  case  of  the  witches  of  Warboys,  was  now  widely  pro¬ 
mulgated,  that  the  declaration  of  the  person  bewitched,  while  in 
the  fits  caused  by  witchcraft,  was  sufficient  evidence  against  the 
supposed  offender.  This  was  opening  a  door  for  the  indulgence 
of  personal  enmity  which  could  not  fail  to  be  often  taken  advan¬ 
tage  of,  and  such  cases  appear  to  have  been  of  very  frequent 
occurrence.  In  Lord  Londesborough’s  volume  of  manuscripts 
already  alluded  to,  there  are  the  notes  of  two  very  curious  affairs 
of  this  kind.  The  first  of  these  cases  occurred  in  and  near  Lon¬ 
don,  in  the  year  1622.  The  lady  Jennings,  living  at  Thistle- 
worth,  had  a  daughter  named  Elizabeth,  of  the  age  of  thirteen 
years.  One  day  she  was  “  frighted  with  the  sight  of  an  old 
woman  who  suddainly  appeared  to  her  att  the  dore  and  demaund- 
ed  a  pin  of  her” — this  seems  to  have  been  the  usual  article  which 
the  witches  asked  of  those  they  were  going  to  torment — and  from 
that  time  the  child  suffered  from  convulsive  fits  of  the  most  pain¬ 
ful  description.  A  variety  of  remedies  were  tried  in  vain,  and 
in  the  course  of  this  treatment  a  woman  named  Margaret  Rus¬ 
sel,  who  went  by  the  name  of  Countess,  frequently  attended — 
she  appears  to  have  been  well  known  at  the  house,  and  to  have 
interfered  with  the  medical  arrangements.  On  the  25th  of  April, 
at  the  end  of  one  of  her  fits,  Elizabeth  Jennings  uttered  the 
names  of  this  woman  and  three  others,  and  then  went  on  talking 
incoherently,  “  These  have  bewitched  all  my  mother’s  children 
— east,  west,  north,  and  south,  all  these  lie — all  these  are  witch- 


COUNTESS  ARRESTED. 


297 


es. 


Set  up  a  great  sprig  of  rosemary  in  the  middle  of  the  house 
1  have  sent  this  child  to  speak  to  show  all  these  witches  Put 
Countess  in  prison  this  child  will  be  well.— If  she  had  been  Ion- 
ago,  all  together  had  been  alive  [it  appears  some  other  children 
°f  the  lady  Jeinmgs  had  died].  Them  she  bewitched  with  a 
eats  tele- Ml  then  I  shall  lie  in  great  pain.-Till  then  by  tits  I 
shall  be  in  great  extremity. — They  died  in  great  misery  ”  These 
and  some  other  speeches  are  duly  attested  by  nine  persons, 
whom  was  the  medical  attendant.  ° 

,rJJie  sa™.e  day  Countess  was  arrested  and  carried  before  Sir 
VVihtam  Slingsby,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  her  account  of  her- 
seh  is  a  curious  picture  of  the  time.  She  said  that  «  yesterday 
slie  went  to  Mrs.  Dromondbye,  in  Blacke-and- White-court  in  the 

,  1  1  ye.’  fnd  t0Jcl  }ler  tIiat  lady  Jennings  had  a  daughter 
strangely  sicke  ;  whereuppon  the  said  Dromondbye  wished  her 
to  goe  to  inquire  att  Clerkenwell  for  a  minister’s  wiffe  that  cold 
helpe  people  that  were  sicke,  but  she  must  not.  aske  for  a  witch 
or  a  cunning  woman,  but  for  one  that  is  a  phisition  woman ;  and 
tnere  this  exanimate  found  her  and  a  woman  sitting  with  her  and 
to  d  her  m  what  case  the  child  was,  and  she  said  shee  wold 
come  this  day,  but  shee  ought  her  noe  service,  and  said  she  had 
bin  there  before  and  left  receiptes  there,  but  the  child  did  not 
take  them  And  she  said  further,  that  there  was  two  children 
that  the  lady  Jenmns  had  by  this  husband  that  were  bewitched 
and  dead,  tor  there  was  controversy  bet w eerie  two  howses  and 
that  as  long  as  they  dwelt  there  they  cold  not  prosper,  and’  that 
there  shold  be  noe  blessing  in  that  house  by  this  man.  And  be¬ 
ing  demaunded  what  she  meant  by  the  difference  betwixt  two 
howses  she  answered  it  was  betwixt  the  house  of  God  and  the 
house  of  the  world;  but  being  urged  to  expresse  it  better,  she 
said  wee  knewe  it  well  enough— it  was  the  difference  betwixt 
iiiggins  the  apothecarie,  the  next  neighbour,  and  the  lady  Jen¬ 
nies.  And  shee  further  confesseth  that  above  a  moneth  ague  she 
went  to  Mrs.  Saxey,  in  Gunpouder-alley,  who  was  forespoken 
herselfe,  and  that  had  a  booke  that  cold  helpe  all  those  that  were 
forespoken,  and  that  shee  wold  come  and  shewe  her  the  booke 
and  helpe  her  under  God.  And  further  said  to  this  examinate 
that  none  but  a  seminary  preist  cold  cure  her.”  We  have  here 
another  instance  how  busy  the  seminary  priests,  or  Jesuits,  were 
in  obtruding  themselves  in  such  cases. 

Countess  was  now  committed  to  Newgate,  and  next  day  new 
revelations  were  obtained  from  the  bewitched  child  confirmatory 
of  the  former  accusation.  But  meanwhile  the  minister’s  wife 


298 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


(Mrs.  Goodcole),  with  her  husband  and  some  friends,  went  to 
the  Old  Bailey,  and  being  confronted  with  the  prisoner,  the  latter 
denied  the  most  important  part  of  what  she  had  said.  In  fact, 
the  accusation  seems  to  have  arisen  out  of  a  private  quarrel,  and 
on  application  to  an  experienced  physician,  Dr.  Napier,  the  lady 
Jennings  was  set  at  ease  as  to  the  ailment  of  her  daughter — so 
we  learn  from  a  note  at  the  end  of  ihe  paper. 

The  other  case  recorded  in  Lord  Londesborougli’s  manuscript 
occurred  in  1626,  and  is  still  more  remarkable.  On  the  13th  of 
August  in  that  year,  a  man  named  Edward  Bull  and  a  woman 
named  Joan  Greedie  were  indicted  at  Taunton  assizes  for  be¬ 
witching  one  Edward  Dinham.  This  man,  when  in  his  fits,  had 
two  voices  besides  his  own,  “  whereof  one  is  a  very  pleasant 
voice  and  shrill,  the  other  deadly  and  hollow  the  third  was  his 
own  voice.  When  the  first  two  (who  were  good  and  evil  spirits 
that  possessed  him)  spoke,  there  was  no  motion  of  his  lips  and 
tongue,  which  however  moved  as  was  usual  with  a  man  talking 
when  his  own  voice  was  heard.  No  doubt  he  was  a  ventrilo¬ 
quist.  The  dialogue,  as  taken  down  in  the  paper  before  me, 
bears  a  close  resemblance  to  the  conversations  of  the  possessed 
nuns  in  France  :  it  is  too  gross  an  imposture  to  deceive  any  one 
for  a  moment.  (I  use  good  and  bad  for  the  two  spiritual  voices, 
and  man  for  the  natural  voice,  as  more  simple  than  the  mode  of 
expressing  them  in  the  manuscript.)  The  conversation  began 
as  follows  :  — 

“  Good.  Howe  comes  this  man  to  bee  thus  tormented  ? 

“  Bad.  He  is  bewitched. 

“  Good.  Who  hath  done  it  ? 

“  Bad.  That  I  may  not  tell. 

“  Good.  Aske  him  agayne. 

“Man.  Come,  come,  prithee  tell  me  who  hath  bewitched  me. 

“Bad.  A  woman  in  greene  cloathes  and  a  blacke  hatt,  with  a 
longe  poll  ;  and  a  man  in  gray  srite,  with  blewe  stockinges. 

“  Good.  But  where  are  they? 

“Bad.  Shee  is  at  her  house and  hee  is  at  a  taverne  in  Yeo- 
liull  in  Ireland. 

“  Good.  But  what  are  theire  names  ? 

“Bad.  Nay,  that  I  will  not  tell. 

“  Good.  Aske  him  agayne. 

“Man.  Come,  come,  prithee  tell  me  what  are  their  names. 

“Bad.  I  am  bound  not  to  tell. 

“  Good.  Then  tell  half  of  their  names. 

“Bad.  The  one  is  Johane,  and  the  other  Edward. 


THE  BEWITCHING  OE  EDWARD  DINHAM. 


299 


“  Good.  Nowe  tell  me  the  other  half. 

“  Bad.  That  I  may  not. 

“  Good.  Aske  him  agayne. 

“Man.  Come,  come,  prithee  tell  me  the  other  half. 

“Bad.  The  one  is  Greedie,  and  the  other  Bull.” 

Having  obtained  this  information,  a  messenger  was  sent  to  a 
house  “  suspected,”  and  finding  a  woman  dressed  according  to 
the  description,  he  caused  her  to  be  arrested  and  committed  to 
safe  custody.  The  conversation  then  went  on  as  follows : — 

“  Good.  But  are  these  witches? 

“Bad.  Yes,  that  they  are. 

“  Good.  Howe  came  they  to  bee  soe  ? 

“Bad.  By  discent. 

“  Good.  But  howe  by  discent  ? 

“Bad.  From  the  grandmother  to  the  mother,  and  from  the 
mother  to  the  children. 

“  Good.  But  howe  were  they  soe  ? 

“  Bad.  They  were  bound  to  us,  and  wee  to  them. 

“  Good.  Lett  me  see  the  bond. 

“Bad.  Thou  shalt  not. 

“  Good.  Lett  me  see  it,  and  if  I  like  I  will  seale  alsoe. 

“Bad.  Thou  shalt  if  thou  wilt  not  reveale  the  contentes 
thereof. 

“  Good.  I  will  not.” 

The  bond  is  now  supposed  to  be  shown,  on  which  the  good 
spirit  exclaims — 

“  Good.  Alas  !  oh  pittifull,  pittifull,  pittifull  ?  What  ?  eight 
seales,  bloody  seales,  four  dead  and  four  alive  ?  ah,  miserable  ! 

“Man.  Come,  come,  prithee  tell  me,  why  did  they  bewitche 
me  ? 

“Bad.  Because  thou  didst  call  Johane  Greedie  witche. 

“Man.  Why,  is  shee  not  a  witche? 

“Bad.  Yes,  but  thou  shouldest  not  have  said  soe. 

“  Good.  But  why  did  Bull  bewitche  him? 

“Bad.  Because  Greedie  was  not  stronge  enough.” 

Inquiry  is  again  made  after  Bull,  and,  on  following  the  direc¬ 
tion  given  by  the  spirit,  the  messenger  finds  the  spot  from  which 
he  had  just  escaped,  and  meets  with  people  who  had  seen  him 
running  away.  A  conversation  follows  on  the  mischiefs  which 
the  witches  had  perpetrated  before  they  attacked  this  man,  and 
we  learn  that  they  had  bewitched  a  person  to  death.  The  con¬ 
versation  is  resumed  in  another  fit  six  days  after  and  another 
attempt  to  catch  Bull  failed.  The  bad  spirit  now  declares  his 


300 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


intention  to  have  Dinham’s  soul,  but  the  good  spirit  opposes  him, 
and  a  violent  struggle  arises,  and  the  evil  one  has  the  advantage. 
The  conversation  between  them  is  then  resumed  : — 

“  Bad.  I  will  have  him,  or  else  I  will  torment  him  eight  tymes 
more. 

“  Good.  Thou  shalt  not  have  thy  will  in  all  thinges  ;  thou  shalt 
torment  him  but  four  tymes  more. 

“  Bad.  I  will  have  thy  soule. 

“  Good.  If  thou,  wilt  answere  me  three  questions,  I  will  sealo 
and  goe  Avith  thee. 

“'Bad.  I  w  ill. 

“  Good.  Who  made  the  world? 

“Bad.  God. 

“  Good.  Who  created  mankynde  ? 

“Bad.  God. 

“  Good.  Wherefore  Avas  Christ  Jesus  his  precious  blood  shed  ? 

“  Bad.  I’le  no  more  of  that.” 

Upon  this,  the  patient  was  seized  Avith  terrible  convulsions. 
A  few  days  afterward,  in  another  fit,  the  struggle  to  obtain  pos¬ 
session  of  the  soul  is  renewed : — 

“  Bad.  If  thou  Avilt  give  me  thy  soule,  I  Avill  give  thee  gold 
enough. 

“  Good.  Thy  gold  will  scald  my  fingers. 

“  Bad.  If  thou  wilt  give  me  thy  soule,  I  will  give  thee  dice, 
and  thou  shalt  winne  infinite  somes  of  treasure  by  play. 

“  Good.  If  thou  canst  make  every  letter  in  this  booke  \_the  man 
had  a  prayer-book  in  his  hand\  a  die,  I  Avill. 

“  Bad.  That  I  cannott. 

“  Good.  Laudes,  laudes,  laudes  ! 

“Bad.  Ladies,  ladies,  ladies — thou  shalt  have  ladies  enough, 
and  if  thou  Avilt  they  shall  come  to  bedd  to  thee.”  [The  bad 
spirit  evidently  did  not  understand  Latin  !] 

“  Good.  If  thou  canst  make  every  letter  in  this  booke  a  ladie, 
I  will.” 

The  bad  spirit  now  attempted  to  cast  the  book  aAvay,  but  after 
a  violent  struggle  he  Avas  overcome,  and  then  the  good  spirit 
made  “  the  sweetest  musicke  that  ever  Avas  heard.”  After  an¬ 
other  attempt  to  trace  and  catch  Bull,  by  the  spirit’s  directions  he 
Avas  at  last  captured  in  his  bed.  Now  that  the  prisoners  Avere 
secured,  Dinham  Avas  delivered  from  his  persecutor,  and  Avas  no 
more  tormented.  The  witches  Avere  indicted  for  similar  offences, 
but  we  are  not  told  what  Avas  their  fate,  or  whether  any  “  semi¬ 
nary  priests”  were  here  concerned. 


COTTA  ON  WITCHCRAFT. 


301 


*1  he  influence  of  the  doctrine  and  example  of  King  James 
might  now  be  considered  as  passed,  and  the  witchcraft  agitation 
would  perhaps  have  gradually  subsided,  had  not  a  new  influence 
arisen  to  revive  the  flame.  Among  the  writers  on  the  subject  of 
witchcraft  during  James’s  reign,  one  took  it  up  in  a  more  rational 
view  than  was  usual  among  his  contemporaries.  This  was  John 
Cotta,  an  eminent  physician  of  Northampton,  the  author  of  a  work 
entitled  «  The  Trial  of  Witchcraft.”  Cotta  did  not  dispute  the 
existence  of  the  witches,  but  he  objected  to  the  evidence  which 
was  received  against  them  ;  and  the  arguments  which  he  used 
to  support  his  opinions  would,  if  followed  out,  have  led  him  much 
further  than  he  would  venture  then  to  go.  Cotta  requires  that 
the  evidence  against  persons  accused  of  witchcraft  should  be  of 
a  direct  and  practical  description.  He  recommended  that  in  all 
cases  of  supposed  witchcraft  or  possession,  skilful  physicians 
should  be  employed  to  ascertain  if  the  patient  might  not  be  suf¬ 
fering  from  a  natural  malady,  and  he  pointed  out  the  fallacy  which 
attended  the  doctrine  of  witches’  marks.  He  showed  how  little 
faith  could  generally  be  placed  in  the  confessions  of  the  witches, 
from  both  the  manner  in  which  they  were  obtained,  and  the  char¬ 
acters  of  the  individuals  who  made  them.  He  exposed  in  the 
same  rational  manner  the  uncertainty  of  such  objectionable  modes 
of  trying  witches  as  swimming  them  in  the  waters,  scratching, 
beating,  pinching,  or  drawing  blood  from  them.  He  objected 
also  to  taking  the  supernatural  revelations  in  those  who  were  be¬ 
witched  as  evidence  against  those  who  were  accused  of  bewitch¬ 
ing  them.  It  will  be  seen  that  all  the  evidence  at  that  time  con¬ 
sidered  conclusive  would  thus  have  been  rendered  of  no  account. 
But  Cotta  was  in  advance  of  his  age  :  he  published  his  book  in 
1616,  when  King  James’s  doctrines  prevailed  in  full  force,  and 
it  attracted  little  attention.  A  new  and  much-enlarged  edition, 
published  in  1624,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  much  better 
received — at  least  it  had  no  effect  in  checking  the  persecution  to 
which  so  many  unfortunate  creatures  were  exposed. 

26 


302 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

WITCHCRAFT  UNDER  THE  COMMONWEALTH  :  MATTHEW  HOPKINS, 

THE  WITCH-FINDER. 

The  great  witch-persecution  in  England  arose  under  the  com¬ 
monwealth.  The  ardent  religious  feelings  of  the  puritans  led 
them  to  believe  not  only  that  they  were  themselves  supported  by 
divine  inspiration  and  favored  with  special  revelations,  but  that 
Satan  was  as  actively  at  work  against  them ;  and  that,  as  with 
the  heroes  of  the  Homeric  age,  the  warfare  in  which  they  were 
thrown  engaged  the  spiritual  no  less  than  the  carnal  world.  It 
was  natural,  therefore,  that  they  should  look  with  especial  horror 
and  hostility  on  that  union  of  Satan  and  mankind  which  was  em¬ 
bodied  in  the  witch  or  sorcerer.  They  were  the  more  apparent 
manifestations  of  the  devil’s  own  interference  in  the  attempt  to 
bring  back  the  double  tyranny  of  kingship  and  popery.  It  is 
impossible  now  to  say  how  far  the  prosecutions  of  witches  at  this 
period  belonged  to  the  personal  animosities  of  religious  and  po¬ 
litical  party,  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  some  at  least  of 
those  who  suffered  were  martyrs  to  their  loyalty.  The  first  name 
which  ushers  in  the  melancholy  list  during  this  period  is  that  of 
Dr.  Lamb,  who  had  been  the  favorite  Buckingham’s  domestic 
magician,  and  who  was  torn  to  pieces  by  the  London  mob  in 
1640. 

The  great  outbreak  of  fanaticism  and  superstition  which  fol¬ 
lowed  began  in  the  county  of  Essex.  In  the  spring  of  1645, 
several  witches  were  seized  at  Manningtree,  and  were  subse¬ 
quently  condemned  and  hanged.  One  of  these  was  an  old  wo¬ 
man  named  Elizabeth  Clarke,  and  the  most  important  witness 
against  her  was  “  Matthew  Hopkins  of  Manningtree,  gent.”  It 
appears  that  Hopkins  had  watched  with  her  several  nights  in  a 
room  in  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Edwards,  in  which  she  was  confined, 
to  keep  her  from  sleeping  until  she  made  a  confession,  and  to 
see  if  she  were  visited  by  her  familiars.  He  declared,  among 
other  things,  that  on  the  night  of  the  24th  of  March,  which  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  the  third  night  of  watching,  after  he  had  re¬ 
fused  to  let  her  call  one  of  her  imps  or  familiars,  she  confessed 
that  about  six  or  seven  years  before  she  had  surrendered  herself 


MATTHEW  HOPKINS  AND  JOHN  STERNE.  303 

to  the  devil  who  came  to  her  in  the  form  of  «  a  proper  o-entle- 
man,  with  a  laced  band.”.  Soon  after  this  a  little  dog  appeared, 
fat  and  short  in  the  legs,  in  color  white  with  sandy  spots,  which, 
when  he  hindered  it  from  approaching  her,  vanished  from  his 
sight.  She  confessed  that  it  was  one  of  her  imps,  named  Jar- 
mara.  Immediately  after  this  had  disappeared,  another  came  in 
the  form  of  a  greyhound,  which  she  called  Vinegar  Tom ;  and 
1  was  followed  by  another  in  the  shape  of  a  polecat.  “  And  this 
informant  [Hopkins]  further  saith,  that  going  from  the  house  of 
the  said  Mr.  Edwards  to  Ins  own  house  about  nine  or  ten  of  the 
clock  that  night,  with  his  greyhound  with  him,  he  saw  the  grey¬ 
hound  suddenly  give  a  jump,  and  run  as  she  had  been  in  a  full 
couise  after  a  hare  ;  and  that  when  the  informant  made  haste  to  see 
what  his  greyhound  so  eagerly  pursued,  he  espied  a  white  thing 
about  the  bigness«of  a  kitlin  [kitten],  and  the  greyhound  stand¬ 
ing  aloof  from  it ;  and  that  by-and-by  the  said  white  imp  or  kitten 
danced  about  the  said  greyhound,  and  by  all  likelihood  bit  a  piece 
of  the  flesh  of  the  shoulder  of  the  greyhound,  for  the  greyhound 
came  shrieking  and  crying  to  this  informant  with  a  piece  of  flesh 
torn  from  her  shoulder.  And  this  informant  further  saith,  that 
coming  into  his  own  yard  that  night,  he  espied  a  black  thing’ 
proportioned  like  a  cat,  only  it  was  thrice  as  big,  sitting  on  &a 
strawberry-bed  and  fixing  its  eyes  on  this  informant;  and  when 
he  went  toward  it,  it  leaped  over  the  pale  toward  this  informant, 
as  he  thought,  but  ran  quite  through  the  yard,  with  his  greyhound 
after  it,  to  a  great  gate,  which  was  underset  with  a  pair  of  tum- 
bnll-st rings,  and  did  throw  the  said  gate  wide  open,  and  then 
vanished ;  and  the  said  greyhound  returned  again  to  this  inform¬ 
ant,  shaking  and  trembling  exceedingly.” 

Hopkins  had  not  ventured  to  remain  with  the  witch  alone  in 
his  watchings,  for  he  had  with  him  one  John  Sterne,  of  Manning- 
tree,  who  also  added  “  gentleman”  to  his  name,  and  who  con¬ 
firmed  everything  that  Hopkins  had  said,  deposed  to  the  coming 
of  the  imps,  and  adding  that  the  third  imp  was  called  Sack-and- 
sugar.  rI  hey  watched  at  night  with  another  woman,  named  Re¬ 
becca  vv  est,  and  saw  her  imps  in  the  same  manner.  She  con¬ 
fessed,  arid  stated  that  the  first  time  she  saw  Satan,  he  came  to 
her  at  night,  told  her  he  must  be  her  husband,  and  married  her 
1  he  severe  treatment  to  which  the  persons  accused  were  exposed 
soon  forced  confessions  from  them  all,  and  they  avowed  them¬ 
selves  guilty  of  mischiefs  of  every  description,  from  the  taking 
away  of  human  life  to  the  spoiling  of  milk.  Some  of  their  imps 
had  caused  storms  at  sea,  and  thus  the  ships  of  people  against 


304 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


whom  they  were  provoked  were  cast  away.  The  names  and 
forms  of  their  imps  were  equally  fantastic.  Rebecca  Jones,  a 
witch  brought  from  St.  Osythe’s,  said  that  she  had  met  a  man  in 
a  ragged  suit,  with  great  eyes  that  terrified  her  exceedingly,  and 
that  he  gave  her  three  things  like  moles,  but  without  tails,  which 
she  fed  with  milk.  Another  had  an  imp  in  the  form  of  a  white 
dog,  which  she  called  Elimanzer,  and  which  she  fed  with  milk- 
pottage.  One  had  three  imps,  which  she  called  Prick-ear,  Jack, 
and  Frog;  another  had  four,  named  James,  Prick-ear,  Robin,  and 
Sparrow.  Several  witnesses — poor  and  ignorant  people — were 
brought  to  testify  to  the  mischief  whic’h  had  been  done  by  these 
means  ;  and  some  declared  that  they  had  seen  their  imps.  A 
countryman  gravely  related  how,  passing  at  daybreak  by  the 
house  of  one  of  the  women  accused,  named  Anne  West,  he  was 
surprised  to  find  her  door  open  at  that  early  hour,  and  looking  in, 
he  saw  three  or  four  things  like  black  rabbits,  one  of  which  rail 
after  him.  Pie  seized  upon  it  and  tried  to  kill  it,  but  it  seemed 
in  his  hands  like  a  piece  of  wool,  and  stretched  out  in  length  as 
he  pulled  it  without  any  apparent  injury.  Then  recollecting 
that  there  was  a  spring  near  at  hand,  he  hurried  thither  and  at¬ 
tempted  to  drown  it,  but  it  vanished  from  his  sight  as  soon  as  he 
put  it  in  the  Avater.  Pie  then  returned  toward  the  house,  and 
seeing  Anne  West  standing  outside  the  door  in  her  smock,  he 
asked  her  why  she  sent  her  imps  to  torment  him. 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  appearance  of  Matthew  Hop¬ 
kins  in  the  character  of  a  witch-finder,  for  which  he  afterward 
became  so  notorious,  and  which  he  now  assumed  as  a  legal  pro¬ 
fession.  He  proceeded  in  a  regular  circuit  through  Suffolk,  Nor¬ 
folk,  Cambridgeshire,  and  Huntingdon,  accompanied  with  John 
Sterne  and  a  woman  whose  business  it  was  to  examine  the  bodies 
of  the  females  in  search  of  their  marks.  In  August  of  1645,  we 
find  them  at  Bury,  in  Suffolk,  Avhere,  on  the  27th  of  that  month, 
no  less  than  eighteen  witches  were  executed  at  once,  and  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty  more  were  to  have  been  tried,  but  a  sudden 
movement  of  the  king’s  troops  in  that  direction  obliged  the  judges 
to  adjourn  the  session.  Some  of  the  imps  here  appeared  in  the 
shapes  of  snakes,  Avasps,  and  hornets,  and  even  of  snails.  They 
Avere  mostly  employed  in  petty  offences ;  one  man  and  his  wife 
Avere  guilty  only  of  having  bewitched  the  beer  in  a  breAvhouse 
and  making  it  stink.  Others,  however,  confessed  that  they  had 
raised  tempests  and  storms,  and  caused  mischief  of  a  much  more 
serious  character.  One  woman  declared  that  she  had  conceived 
two  children  by  the  devil,  “  but  as  soon  as  she  Avas  delivered  of 


PARSON  LOWES. 


305 


them  they  ran  away  in  most  horrid  long  ugly  shapes”  Anno 
Leach,  of  Mistley,  Essex,  who  was  tried  here  ‘said  thn/tb*  ; 

‘•  did  mischief  wherever  they  went,  and  that  when  this  examinant 

e  h°ealth  bu't  whmP  h7  abr0ad  t0  d°  — hmf^she  had  no! 
her  health,  but  when  they  were  employed  she  was  healthful  and 

The  most  remarkable  victim  of  this  inquisition  at  Bury  was  an 

p  r  er^{.lllaj1  nam.ed  Lowes,  who  had  been  vicar  of  Brandeslon 

pooemT Stw  7  "'f  ^  *  well-l„ow“^ 

ponent  ol  the  new  church  government.  This  man  we  are  toll 

y  SterJle’  one  ol  ihe  inquisitors,  “had  been  indicted  for  a  coni 
mon  mi  barrator,  and  for  witchcraft,  above  thirty  years  before  and 
he  grand  jury  (as  I  have  heard)  found  the  bill  for  a  common  im 
barrator,  who  now,  after  he  was  found  with  the  marks  in  his  con- 
smn  he  confessed  that  in  pride  of  heart  to  be  equal  or  rather 
withetbe°S  ’  •I?e  dnViI  ^.^vantage  of  him,  and  he  covena^d 

iars  or  spirhs’ wl  l  ,  ^  bl°°d’  and  had  those 

lars  or  spirits  winch  sucked  on  the  marks  found  on  his  body 

d  did  much  harm  both  by  sea  and  land,  especially  by  sea  for 

heconfessd  that  he  being  at  Lungarfort  [Languard-fortl  in  Suf- 

folk  where  he  preached,  as  he  walked  upon  the  wall  or  works 

saihn^bv  ^ea  T Sfi!  °f  ShipS  paSS  by’  and  that>  as  they  were 
sailino  by,  one  of  his  three  imps,  namely,  his  yellow  one  forth- 

h  appeared  to  him  and  asked  him  what  he  should  do  and  he 

bad  it  go  and  sink  such  a  ship,  and  showed  his  imp  a  new  ship 

toTpWh  * he  °f  ^f6  (f  1  remembe0,  one  that  belonged 

he  stood  stilf,  1  C°nfef ed  tbe  lraP  went  forthwith  away,  and 
ne  stood  still  and  viewed  the  ships  on  the  sea  as  they  were  a 

sailing  and  perceived  that  ship  immediately  to  be  in  more  trou¬ 
ble  and  danger  than  the  rest;  for  he  said  the  water  to more 

waveT0"8  Tar  t  at  the  rest>  tumbling  up  and  down  with 
\ai  es,  as  if  water  had  been  boiled  in  a  pot,  and  soon  after  (he 

said)  in  a  short  time  it  sunk  directly  down  into  the  sea  as  he 
stood  and  viewed  it,  when  all  the  rest  sailed  down  in  safety  ;  then 
ie  confessed  he  made  fourteen  widows  in  one  quarter  of  an  hour 

"red  h[,;,  7  't"'nas  7  ‘°Id  T  (for  he  •«*  W*  confession); 
asked  him,  if  it  did  not  grieve  him  to  see  so  many  men  cast 

away  in  a  short  time,  and  that  he  should  be  the  cause  of  so  many 

pool  Widows  on  a  sudden ;  but  he  swore  by  his  Maker,  no  he 

was  joyful  to  see  what  power  his  imps  had :  and  so  likewise 

“  many  °*®r  mischleps>  and  had  a  charm  to  keep  him 
out  of  the  jail  and  hanging,  as  he  paraphrased  it  himself  but 

26* 


306 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


therein  the  devil  deceived  him  ;  for  he  was  hanged  that  Michael¬ 
mas  time,  1645,  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  ;  but  he  made  a  very  far 
larger  confession,  which  I  have  heard  hath  been  printed  ;  but  if 
it  were  so,  it  was  neither  of  Mr.  Hopkins’  doing  nor  mine  own, 
for  we  never  printed  anything  until  now.” 

Perhaps  Hopkins,  when  scared  by  the  royal  troops,  returned 
homeward  from  Bury  to  Ipswich,  where  a  poor  woman  named 
Lakelaw  was  burnt  on  the  ninth  of  September.  She  confessed 
that  she  had  been  a  witch  nearly  twenty  years,  and  that  she  had 
bewitched  to  death  her  own  husband  and  a  person  who  had  re¬ 
fused  to  give  her  a  needle,  besides  destroying  several  ships,  yet 
she  had  always  appeared  to  be  a  very  religious  woman,  and  was 
a  constant  attendant  at  church.  She  had  three  imps  in  the  shape 
of  two  little  dogs  and  a  mole. 

At  Yarmouth,  Hopkins  sacrificed  sixteen  persons,  all  of  whom 
made  confessions.  One  woman  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing 
work  for  one  of  the  aldermen,  who  was  a  stocking  merchant. 
One  day,  when  he  was  absent  from  home,  she  went  to  his  house 
to  ask  for  work,  and  was  turned  away  contemptuously  by  his  man. 
She  then  applied  to  the  maid-servant  for  some  knitting,  but  was 
received  no  more  favorably.  She  went  home  in  great  distress 
and  anger,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  hearing  a  knock  at  the 
door,  she  rose  from  her  bed  to  look  out  at  the  window,  and  there 
saw  a  tall  black  man.  He  told  her  he  knew  of  the  ill-treatment 
she  had  received,  and  that  he  was  come  to  give  her  the  means 
of  revenge  ;  and,  after  having  made  her  write  her  name  in  a  book 
he  drew  from  his  pocket,  he  gave  her  some  money,  and  went 
away.  Next  night  he  appeared  again,  and  told  her  he  had  not 
the  power  to  injure  the  man  because  he  went  regularly  to  hear 
pious  ministers,  and  said  his  prayers  night  and  morning;  and  it 
was  then  agreed  that  he  should  punish  the  maid.  The  night  fol¬ 
lowing  he  returned  with  the  same  story  as  regarded  the  maid, 
but  he  said  there  was  a  child  in  the  family  that  might  be  injured. 
The  woman  having  consented,  he  came  next  night  with  an  image 
of  wax  intended  to  represent  the  child,  and  they  went  together 
to  the  churchyard  and  buried  it.  The  child  was  immediately 
taken  ill,  and  it  had  languished  in  this  condition  eighteen  months, 
when  the  witch  was  seized  and  brought  to  the  witch-finder’s 
“justice.”  She  was  taken  to  the  room  where  the  child  lay,  and 
she  had  no  sooner  repeated  her  confession  there,  than  it  began 
to  recover.  They  took  the  woman  next  morning  to  the  church¬ 
yard,  where  she  pointed  to  the  exact  spot  where  the  waxen  im¬ 
age  was  buried,  but  when  they  dug  they  found  nothing.  The 


THE  WITCHES  AT  FAVERSHAM. 


307 

came  to  herhT ’the^ap™/  a  MaTbhd.  ^  W°man’S  famiIkr 

wTth  th“ir  blooT  o  T  ^ad  Si^,ed  C0venaMs  10  evil  one 
.  lVv  t  rb  d'i  0n®  of  them  said>  that  about  three  quarters  of 
he“bfre>  wh,en  She  firSt  became  a  witch,  “As  she  was  in 
the  bed  about  twelve  or  one  of  the  clock  in  the  night  there  lav  a 

SSS  hoff  W?t5  T\herbOSOm’  Wh,ch  was  v-y  s^  and The 

.  •  W1  bei  hand;  and  she  saith  that  when  she  had 
irust  it  away,  she  thought  God  forsook  her,  for  she  could 
never  pray  so  well  since  as  she  could  before  ;  and  further  saith 
hat  she  verily  thinks  it  was  alive.”  Another,  who  had  been 
y  >  cars  acquainted  with  a  demon  which  first  appeared  to 
her  m  the  shape  of  a  hedgehog,  but  as  soft  as  a  cm  ‘‘afher  first 

prehe'ndeThl^  Jai!sp®ke  ver/  much  to  the  others  that  were  ap- 
)  •  elore  her  to  confess  if  they  were  guilty  -  and  stood 

ha  i?ZvPerr.Te^  She  was  clear  of  *4  sueh  thing and 

sLk  Bui  2£rr°  Wa‘er  ‘°  ‘ry  her  She  Sh0l,ld  eertainly 

rent  thaTrirJrtkT  (fM  W”S  T  m'°  tlle  wa,er-  and  '*  was  “Ppal 

rent  that  she  did  float  upon  the  water,  being  taken  forth  a  le n 
tleman  to  whom  before  she  had  so  confidently  spoken  and  with 

iTot^wiJ^sk^dt  to,Iay  twenty  shillings  to  one  that  she  could 
n,  asked  her  how  it  was  possible  that  she  could  be  so 

SwL"  r  l0.C0nreSrS  '  'Vl’en  She 

suaded  the  others  to  confess;  to  whom  she  answered  that  the 

sink  ZfM  r'h  If  a“  ,he  way-  a”d  ‘»>d  her  that  she  should 
sink  but  when  she  was  in  the  water,  he  sat  upon  a  cross-beam 

and  laughed  at  her.”  The  third  of  the  Faversham  w,Iches  whose 

term  oi  twenty  years  for  which  she  had  sold  herself  to’  Satan 

was  nearly  expired,  and  whose  familiar  was  a  little  dog  named 

lack’ and Xtsb^b  ^  pr°mised  ller  that  she  should  not 

lack,  and  that  she  had  money  sometimes  brought  to  her  she  knew 

whence,  sometimes  one  shilling,  sometimes  sixpence  never 

mad  sum*3  f  1  ^  lncapacity  of  the  tempter  to  give  more  than 
a  small  sum  of  money  at  a  time  to  any  of  his  victims,  was  a  pe¬ 
culiar  article  in  the  English  popular  creed.  “In  1645  ”  says 

,Tar;  )  F  Do1rSetShir^’  1  .lodSed  at  a  village  on  a  hill, ’called 

vho  b^  S  ’  m  t  l<3  h0l,,Se  °f  the  rninister)  a  grave  man, 
ho  had  w  ith  him  a  son,  also  a  learned  minister,  that  had 

been  chaplain  to  Sir  Thomas  Adams  in  London.  They  both 


308 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


told  me,  that  they  had  a  neighbor  that  had  long  lain  bed-rid, 
that  told  all  the  occasion  ;  that  for  a  long  time,  being  a  poor  la¬ 
boring  man,  every  morning  when  he  went  out  of  his  door,  he 
found  a  shilling  under  his  door,  of  which  he  told  no  man,  so  that 
in  a  longtime,  lie  buying  some  sheep  or  swine,  and  seeming  rich, 
his  neighbors  marvelled  how  lie  came  by  it.  At  last  he  told  them, 
and  was  suddenly  struck  lame  and  bed-rid.  They  would  have 
me  speak  with  the  man ;  but  the  snow  covering  the  ground,  and 
I  being  ill,  and  the  witnesses  fully  credible,  I  forbore.” 

Hopkins  and  his  colleagues  were  encouraged  in  their  new 
profession  by  the  tacit  recognition  of  parliament,  who  sent  a  com¬ 
mission  of  puritanical  ministers  to  assist  the  judges  in  the  assizes. 
We  can  trace  his  course  imperfectly  by  the  pamphlets  of  the  time, 
which  give  reports  of  at  least  some  of  the  different  trials  in  which 
he  figured  as  grand  accuser,  but  some  of  these  are  now  exceed¬ 
ingly  rare,  and  many  no  doubt  are  lost.  He  was  perhaps  at  Cam¬ 
bridge  toward  the  end  of  the  yrear  1645,  as  a  witch  was  hanged 
there  who  had  an  imp  in  the  form  of  a  frog.  Toward  spring  the 
witch-finder-general  reached  Huntingdon,  where  a  rich  harvest 
awaited  him. 

The  imps  of  the  witches  of  Huntingdon  often  assumed  the 
form  of  mice,  and  they  were  transferable  from  one  person  to  an¬ 
other.  They  had  different  powers,  some  being  able  to  kill  men, 
others  only  cattle  and  animals,  while  the  power  of  others  extend¬ 
ed  only  to  inanimate  things.  This  was  the  reason  why  one  witch 
had  often  several  familiars.  John  Winnick,  a  husbandman,  said 
that  having  lost  his  purse  with  seven  shillings  in  it,  at  which  he 
was  much  grieved,  he  was  one  day  at  noon  in  the  barn,  making 
hav-bottles  for  horses,  “  swearing,  cursing,  and  raging,”  and  wish¬ 
ing  he  might  have  help  to  restore  his  loss,  when  the  evil  one  ap¬ 
peared  to  him  in  the  form  of  a  black  shaggy  beast,  with  paws 
like  a  bear,  but  not  quite  so  large  as  a  cony  or  rabbit,  and  tempt¬ 
ed  him  by  a  promise  of  restitution.  One  of  the  Huntingdon 
witches,  Joan  Wallis,  said  that  she  one  day  met  a  man  in  black 
clothes,  who  said  his  name  was  Blackman,  and  asked  her  if  she 
was  poor.  She  “  saw  he  had  ugly  feet,”  and  was  afraid.  He 
told  her  that  he  would  send  her  two  familiars  named  Grissell  and 
Greedigut,  and  “  within  three  or  four  days  Grissell  and  Greedi- 
gut  came  to  her,  in  the  shape  of  dogs  with  great  bristles  of  hog’s 
hair  upon  their  backs,  and  said  to  her  they  were  come  from  Black¬ 
man  to  do  what  she  would  command  them,  and  did  ask  her  if  she 
did  want  anything,  and  they  would  fetch  her  anything ;  and  she 
said  she  lacked  nothing.  Then  they  prayed  her  to  give  them 


JOHN  GAULE  RESISTS  HOPKINS. 


309 


some  victuals,  and  she  said  she  was  poor  and  had  none  to  give 
them,  and  so  they  departed.”  Yet  she  confessed  that  Blackman, 
Grissell,  and  Greedigut,  divers  times  came  to  her  afterward,  and 
brought  her  two  or  three  shillings  at  a  time.  Elizabeth  Chandler 
was  accused  of  having  two  imps  named  Beelzebub  and  Trulli-' 
bub  ;  but  she  denied  it,  and  stated  that  she  called  a  certain  loo- 
of  wood  Beelzebub,  and  a  stick  near  it  Trullibub.  Another 
woman  was  constrained  to  confess  that  she  sent  her  familiar, 
named  Pretty,  to  kill  a  man’s  capons.  The  man  being  brought 
forward  as  a  witness,  deposeth,  that  “  she  coming  to  bake  a  loaf 
at  his  house  about  three  or  four  years  since,  being  denied,  his 
capons  did  tall  a  fluttering,  and  would  never  eat  after.  And  also 
saith,  that  about  the  same  time,  she  having  a  hog  in  his  yard, 
some  of  his  servants  set  a  dog  on  the  same  ;  for  which  she'  said 
she  would  be  revenged,  and  the  next  day  one  of  his  hogs  died.” 

^It  was  apparently  just  before  his  visit  to  Huntingdon  to  under¬ 
take  these  examinations,  which  took  place  during  the  months  of 
March  and  April  of  the  year  1646,  that  Hopkins  went  to  Kimbol- 
ton.  The  reports  of  his  sanguinary  proceedings  had  spread  con¬ 
sternation  far  and  wide,  and  it  was  only  here  and  there  that  any 
one  durst  raise  a  voice  against  him.  One  of  these  courageous 
individuals  was  John  Gaule,  the  minister  of  Great  Staughton, 
near  Kirnbolton,  in  Huntingdonshire,  who  took  up  the  cudgels 
against  Hopkins,  and  prtivoked  his  wrath  .to  such  a  degree,  that 
he  wrote  the  following  insolent  letter  to  one  of  the  chief  persons 
in  his  parish.  “  My  service  to  your  worship  presented,  I  have 
this  day  received  a  letter  to  come  to  a  town  called  Great  Staugh¬ 
ton,  to  search  for  evil-disposed  persons  called  witches  (though  I 
hear  your  minister  is  against  us  through  ignorance),  I  intend  to 
come  (God  willing)  the  sooner  to  hear  his  singular  judgment  in 
behalf  of  such  parties.  I  have  known  a  minister  in  Suffolk 
preach  as  much  against  the  discovery  in  a  pulpit,  and  forced  to 
lecant  it  (by  the  committee)  in  the  same  place.  I  much  marvel 
such  evil  members  should  have  any,  much  more  any  of  the  cler¬ 
gy  who  should  daily  preach  terror  to  convince  such  offenders, 
stand  up  to  take  their  parts  against  such  as  are  complainants  for 
the  king  and  sufferers  themselves  with  their  families  and  estates. 

I  intend  to  give  your  town  a  visit  suddenly.  I  am  to  come  to 
Kirnbolton  this  week,  and  it  shall  be  ten  to  one  but  I  will  come 
to  your  town  first;  but  I  would  certainly  know  afore  whether 
your  town  affords  many  sticklers  for  such  cattle,  or  willing  to 
give  and  afford  us  good  welcome  and  entertainment,  as  other 
where  I  have  been,  else  I  shall  waive  your  shire  (not  as  yet  be- 


310 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


ginning  in  any  part  of  it  myself),  and  betake  me  to  such  places 
where  I  do  and  may  persist  without  control,  but  with  thanks  and 
recompense.  So  I  humbly  take  my  leave,  and  rest  your  servant 
to  be  commanded.  “  Matthew  Hopkins.” 

So  far  was  John  Gaule  from  being  terrified  by  this  threatening 
epistle,  that  he  immediately  made  it  the  text  of  a  treatise  against 
the  witch-finder  and  his  followers,  which  he  published  the  same 
year  under  the  title  of  “  Select  Cases  of  Conscience  touching 
Witches  and  Witchcraft.”  Gaule  was  not  in  advance  of  his  age 
in  point  of  intelligence,  though  his  better  and  more  generous 
feelings  revolted  at  the  wholesale  cruelties  which  had  been  pro¬ 
voked  by  Hopkins  and  his  accomplices.  He  fully  believed  in 
the  existence  of  the  witches,  and  in  the  evils  which  they  perpe¬ 
trated,  but  he  wished  like  Cotta,  that  the  evidence  should  be  more 
cautiously  sifted  and  discriminated.  In  his  enumeration  of  the 
objectionable  methods  of  trying  witches,  he  lets  us  into  a  secret 
of  Hopkins’s  practices,  which  show  us  at  once  the  horrible  char¬ 
acter  of  the  persecution  that  was  carried  on  under  the  direction 
of  the  witch-finder-general.  “  To  all  these  signs,”  says  Gaule, 
I  can  not  but  add  one  at  large,  which  I  have  lately  learned,  part¬ 
ly  from  some  communications  I  had  with  one  of  the  witch-find¬ 
ers  (as  they  call  them),  partly  from  the  confessions  (which  I 
heard)  of  a  suspected  and  committed  witch,  so  handled  as  she 
said,  and  partly  as  thg  country  people  talk  of  it.  Having  taken 
the  suspected  witch,  she  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  a  room,  upon 
a  stool  or  table,  cross-legged,  or  in  some  other  uneasy  posture,  to 
which,  if  she  submits  not,  she  is  then  bound  with  cords  ;  there  she 
is  watched  and  kept  without  meat  or  sleep  for  the  space  of  four- 
and-twenty  hours  (for  they  say  within  that  time  they  shall  see 
her  imp  come  and  suck).  A  little  hole  is  likewise  made  in  the 
door  for  the  imp  to  come  in  at ;  and  lest  they  should  come  in 
some  less  discernible  shape,  they  that  Avatch  are  taught  to  be 
ever  and  anon  sweeping  the  room,  and  if  they  see  any  spiders 
or  flies,  to  kill  them,  and  if  they  can  not  kill  them,  then  they  may 
be  sure  they  are  her  imps.” 

The  provision  of  making  a  hole  in  the  door  shows  no  very 
intelligent  appreciation  of  the  nature  of  spirits,  but  it  agrees  tol¬ 
erably  well  with  the  confessions  of  several  of  Hopkins’s  victims. 
Elizabeth  Clark,  at  Manningtree,  is  said  to  have  confessed  that 
when  the  devil  visited  her  at  night,  she  was  obliged  to  rise  and 
let  him  in  when  he  knocked  at  the  door.  One  witch  kept  her 
imp  a  year  and  a  half  Avith  oatmeal,  and  then  lost  it.  Another 
killed  her  imp  ;  and  another  had  imps  which  sucked  one  another. 


MATTHEW  HOPKINS  AT  WORCESTER.  311 

The  horror  at  first  excited  by  the  atrocities  committed  under 
the  regime  of  the  witch-finder-general  soon  gave  place  to  a  wide¬ 
ly-extended  feeling  of  indignation.  A  lady  who  lived  near 
Hoxne  in  Suffolk,  told  Dr.  Hutchinson  (the  author  of  the  Essay 
on  VV  itchcraft)  that  when  the  witch-finders  came  into  that  neigh¬ 
borhood,  they  took  a  poor  woman,  and  by  keeping  her  fasting 
and  without  sleep,  induced  her  to  confess  that  she  had  an  imp 
named  Nan.  “  This  good  gentlewoman  told  me  that,  her  hus¬ 
band  (a  very  learned  and  ingenious  gentleman)  having  indigna¬ 
tion  at  the  thing,  he  and  she  went  to  the  house,  and  put  the  peo¬ 
ple  out  of  doors,  and  gave  the  poor  woman  some  meat,  and  let 
her  go  to  bed  ;  and  when  she  had  slept  and  come  to  herself  she 
knew  not  what  she  had  confessed,  and  had  nothing  she  called 
A  an  but  a  pullet,  that  she  sometimes  called  by  that  name.” 
I  ortures  like  these,  and  even  worse,  were  exercised  on  Parson 
Eowes  of  Brandeston,  to  force  a  confession  from  him  Dr 
Hutchinson  learned  “from  them  that  watched  with  him,  that 
they  kept  him  awake  several  nights  together,  and  run  him  back¬ 
ward  and  forward  about  the  room,  until  he  was  out  of  breath- 
then  they  rested  him  a  little,  and  then  ran  him  again  ;  and  thus 

TV  vr  sev,eral  da7s  and  together,  till  he  was  weary 

ot  his  life,  and  was  scarce  sensible  of  Avhat  he*  said  or  did. 
Ihey  swam  him  at  Framlingham,  but  that  was  no  true  rule  to 
try  him  by  ;  for  they  put  in  honest  people  at  the  same  time,  and 
they  swam  as  well  as  he.” 

-  ^o  escape  the  odium  which  pursued  him  through  the  counties 
in  which  he  had  made  himself  so  conspicuous,  Hopkins  appears 
to  have  now  removed  the  scene  of  his  labors  into  other  parts  of 
the  kingdom.  We  find  him  not  long  after  this  at  Worcester. 
On  the  fourth  of  March,  probably  of  the  year  1647,  four  witches 
were  condemned  in  that  city,  and  Matthew  Hopkins  was  one  of 
the  principal  witnesses.  After  the  same  process  of  watching 
her,  he  extracted  from  one  of  them  a  confession  that  Satan  had 
appeared  to  her  as  a  handsome  young  man,  that  he  said  he  came 
to  marry  her,  and  that  he  accordingly  took  her  as  his  wife.  An¬ 
other  said  that  she  only  enjoyed  her  health  while  her  imp  was 
employed  in  doing  mischief.  These  were  imitations  of  the  con¬ 
fessions  made  in  Essex  and  Suffolk.  The  witches  at  Worcester 
said  they  tormented  and  killed  people  by  making  figures  of  wax, 
and  sticking  pins  and  needles  into  them.  On  their  trial,  one  of 
them  denied  their  confession,  and  said  that  when  they  confessed 
they  were  not  in  their  senses. 

On  his  return  to  his  native  county,  Hopkins  was  assailed  on 


312 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


every  side  by  the  outcries  of  his  enemies,  and  he  was  alarmed 
at  the  indignation  his  cruelties  had  excited.  The  extraordinary 
scale  on  which  he  had  carried  on  his  prosecutions,  gave  rise  to 
a  popular  report  that  he  was  not  himself  unacquainted  with  Satan, 
from  whom  it  was  pretended  by  some  that  he  had  obtained  the 
list  of  his  subjects.  Complaints  had  been  publicly  made  against 
him,  and  his  method  of  proceeding  was  laid  aside  as  too  rigorous 
and  tyrannical.  In  fact,  a  great  reaction  had  followed  him  in 
his  course,  and  the  witch-tinder  was  now  in  disgrace.  Hopkins 
felt  this,  and  winced  under  the  popular  attacks.  It  appears  that 
he  was  of  a  weak  constitution,  and  vexation  and  regret  hastened 
the  hereditary  consumption  to  which  he  was  a  prey.  He  re¬ 
turned  to  Manningtree  in  1647,  printed  a  pamphlet  in  his  own 
defence,*  and  then  died.  This  we  learn  from  his  coadjutor 
Sterne,  who  assures  us  that  he  had  “  no  trouble  of  conscience 
for  what  he  had  done,  as  was  falsely  reported  of  him.”  A  re¬ 
port  was  afterwartl  circulated,  apparently  without  any  foundation 
in  truth,  although  adopted  by  Butler,  that  in  the  midst  of  the 
popular  indignation  against  the  witch-finder,  some  gentlemen 
had  seized  on  him  and  put  him  to  the  trial  of  swimming,  on 
which,  as  he  happened  to  swim,  he  was  adjudged  to  be  himself 
a  wizard.f  Upon  the  death  of  Hopkins,  the  popular  odium  seems 
to  have  fallen  on  his  colleague  Sterne,  who  had  taken  up  his 
residence  at  Lawshall,  near  Bury  St.  Edmonds.  In  1648,  pro¬ 
voked  by  the  reflections  that  had  been  cast  on  himself  and  his 

*  “  The  Discovery  of  Witches,  in  answer  to  several  queries  lately  delivered  to 
the  judge  of  assize  for  the  county  of  Norfolk;  and  was  published  by  Matthew 
Hopkins,  witch-finder,  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  kingdom.  Printed  lor  R.  Roy- 
ston,  at  the  Angel,  in  Iron  Lane,  1647.”  This  is  a  very  rare  tract,  and  the  only 
copy  I  know  of  was  in  the  possession  of  Sir  W alter  Scott,  from  whose  “•  Letters 
on  Demonology  and  Witchcraft,”  1  take  the  title, 
t  The  lines  of  Hudibras  have  been  often  quoted  : — 

Hath  not  this  present  parliament 
A  lieger  to  the  devil  sent, 

Fully  empowered  to  set  about 
Finding  revolted  witches  out  ? 

And  has  he  not  within  a  year 
Hanged  threescore  of  them  in  one  shire  ? 

Some  only  for  not  being  drowned, 

And  some  for  sitting  above  ground 
Whole  days  and  nights  upon  their  breeches, 

And  feeling  pain,  were  hanged  for  witches. 

And  some  for  putting  knavish  tricks 
Upon  green  geese  or  Turkey  chicks 
Or  pigs  that  suddenly  deceased 
Of  griefs  unnatural,  as  he  guessed, 

Who  proved  himself  at  length  a  witcb, 

And  made  a  rod  for  his  own  breech. 

Hudibras,  Part  ii.,  Canto  3. 


THE  OLD  WOMAN  OF  DROIT  WITCH.  313 

colleague  Hopkins,  he  published  a  defence  of  their  conduct,  un¬ 
der  the  title  of  “  A  Confirmation  and  Discovery  of  Witchcraft  ” 
m  which  he  boasts  that  he  had  been  part  an  agent  in  convicting 
about  two  hundred  witches  in  Essex,  Suffolk,  Northamptonshire 
Huntingdonshire,  Bedfordshire,  Norfolk,  Cambridgeshire,  and 
Lie  Isle  of  Ely.  He  assures  us  “that  in  many  places  I  never 
leceived  penny  as  yet,  nor  any  am  like,  notwithstanding  I  have 
hands  for  satisfaction,  except  I  should  sue  ;  but  many  rather  fall 
upon  me  for  what  hath  been  received,  but  I  hope  such  suits  will 
be  disannulled,  and  that  where  I  have  been  out  of  moneys  for 
towns  in  charges  and  otherwise,  such  course  will  be  taken  that 
1  may  be  satisfied  and  paid  with  reason.”*  Hopkins  himself, 

“  h\mself  a§amst  charge  of  interestedness,  tells 

us  hat  his  regular  charge  was  twenty  shillings  for  each  town, 

w,  '"f  J16  ®xPenses  of  living,  and  journeying  thither  and 
back.  In  his  book,  he  confesses  that  besides  the  other  prac¬ 
tices  of  stripping  the  victims  naked,  and  thrusting  pins  into  va¬ 
rious  parts  of  their  body,  in  search  of  marks,  and  swimming  them 
he  had  practised  the  new  torture  of  keeping  them  awake,  and 
forcing  them  to  walk,  which  was  an  invention  of  his  own  ;  but 
he  acknowledges  that  he  had  been  so  far  obliged  to  yield  to  pub¬ 
ic  opinion  m  the  latter  part  of  his  course,  as  to  lay  aside  this 
Ins  own  favorite  remedy.  J 

The  violent  persecution  excited  by  Hopkins  had  now  subsi- 
,  and  it  was  followed  by  a  calm,  during  which  we  hear  but 
little  of  accusations  of  witchcraft.  The  independents,  who  had 
gained  the  ascendency,  seem  to  have  discouraged  prosecutions 
of  this  kind.  \  et,  in  1649,  soon  after  the  execution  of  the  king 
we  perceive  an  inclination  to  revive  the  prosecutions  against 
witches  In  the  May  of  that  year,  the  city  of  Worcester  was 
again  the  scene  of  a  tragedy  of  this  kind.  A  boy,  at  Droitwich 
whose  mother,  a  poor  woman,  had  a  cow  that  had  strayed,  was 
sent  m  search  of  it.  As  he  came  near  a  brake,  he  thought  he 
saw  the  bulrushes  move  in  one  place,  and  imagining  the  cow 
might  be  grazing  among  them,  he  approached  the  spot ;  but  he 
had  no  sooner  come  near,  than  an  old  woman  suddenly  iumped 
up  and  cried  “boh!”  The  lad  was  seized  with  sudden  terror 
became  speechless,  and  hurried  home  in  a  state  of  distraction.’ 

e  remained  in  the  house  till  the  evening,  and  then  he  was 
seized  with  a  sudden  fit,  ran  out,  and  directed  his  steps  toward 

ololwMr  °/ *L8.er  ' cesfively  ™re  book  is  in  the  rich  library  of  works  on  demon- 
ology  or  Mr.  James  Grossley  of  Manchester.  I  only  know  it  through  the  nytmrfa 
given  in  that  gentleman’s  recent  edition  of  Potts’  Discovery  of  Witches 

27 


314 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  house  of  Sir  Richard  Barret,  where,  as  was  usual  in  the 
olden  time,  a  number  of  poor  people  were  collected  at  the  door 
feeding  upon  the  charity  of  the  family.  Among  these  the  lad 
discovered  the  old  woman  of  the  brake,  who  it  appears  was  a 
vagrant  from  Lancashire,  sitting  down  and  supping  upon  a  mess 
of  hot  pottage,  and  he  ran  furiously  at  her,  threw  her  pottage  in 
her  face,  and  struck  her.  The  people  who  stood  round  inter¬ 
fered,  and,  when  the  state  of  the  case  was  known,  the  old  wo¬ 
man  was  taken  and  committed  to  the  prison,  which  was  there 
called  the  “  Chequer.”  About  the  middle  of  the  night,  the  boy’s 
mother  heard  a  noise  above  her,  and  hurried  up  to  the' garret 
where  the  boy  slept,  where  she  found  him  out  of  bed,  with  the 
leg  of  a  stool  in  his  hand,  striking  furiously  at  the  window.  He 
then  put  on  his  clothes,  ran  down  into  the  street,  and  went  direct 
to  the  prison.  It  appears  that  in  the  meantime  the  jailer,  who 
compassionated  the  sufferings  of  the  boy,  had  threatened  his 
prisoner  that  she  should  have  nothing  to  eat  until  she  had  said 
the  Lord’s  prayer  and  a  blessing  on  her  victim,  which  with 
some  difficulty  she  was  prevailed  upon  to  do.  The  consequence 
of  this  was,  that  when  the  boy  arrived  at  the  prison,  he  had  re¬ 
covered  his  speech,  and  was  enabled  to  ask  the  jailer  why  he 
had  allowed  his  prisoner  to  go  at  large.  The  jailer  insisted  that 
she  was  safe  under  lock  and  key.  “  Nay,”  replied  the  boy,  “  I 
have  just  seen  her  myself,”  and  he  proceeded  to  tell  him  how  the 
old  woman  had  come  in  at  his  window  while  he  was  in  bed,  and 
how  he  had  jumped  up  and  struck  her  two  blows  with  a  stool-leg 
as  she  was  making  her  exit,  which  must  have  left  their  marks 
on  her  body.  A  woman  was  sent  to  examine  the  prisoner’s  per¬ 
son,  and  to  her  great  astonishment  she  found  distinct  marks  of 
blows,  just  as  the  boy  had  described  them.  These  circum¬ 
stances  were  deposed  to  at  the  assizes  at  Worcester,  by  the  boy, 
his  mother,  the  jailer,  and  the  woman  who  searched,  and  the 
witch  of  course  stood  duly  convicted.  About  the  same  time  a 
man  at  Tewkesbury  had  a  sow  with  a  numerous  litter  of  pigs, 
and  was  surprised  at  the  short  allowance  of  milk  she  gave  to 
them.  Suspecting  there  might  be  something  wrong,  he  watched 
at  night,  and  saw  a  black  thing  like  a  polecat  come  and  suck 
the  old  sow  greedily.  He  immediately  struck  at  the  depreda¬ 
tor  with  a  fork  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  stuck  the  prongs  into 
its  thigh  ;  but  it  made  its  escape  through  the  door,  and  he  lost 
sight  of  it.  He  followed,  however,  in  the  direction  which  he 
supposed  it  had  taken,  and  meeting  with  a  rnanhe  knew,  asked 
him  if  he  had  not  seen  such  an  animal  as  he  described.  The 


THE  DISTURBANCES  AT  WOODSTOCK. 


315 


man  declared  he  had  seen  nothing  but  a  “  wench,”  who  passed 
him  apparently  in  great  haste.  This,  wench  was  taken  and  ex¬ 
amined,  and  the  wounds  caused  by  the  prongs  of  the  fork  were 
found  on  her  thigh.  She  was  taken  to  Gloucester,  and  at  the 
next  assizes  tried  and  convicted.  In  the  month  of  July  follow¬ 
ing,  a  man  and  woman  were  executed  at  St.  Albans  ;  the  man 
confessed  he  had  been  a  witch  sixty  years,  and  that  he  had  gen¬ 
erally  exercised  his  profession  as  a  white  or  beneficent  witch. 
He  was  probably  one  of  those  miserable  impostors  who  gained 
their  living  by  conjuring  to  cure  diseases,  and  help  people  to 
what  was  lost  or  stolen.  His  accomplice  was  a  kinswoman, 
who  lived  with  him,  and  had  a  familiar  in  the  shape  of  a  cat! 
She  acknowledged  that  this  familiar  had  promised  to  brino  her 
anything  she  wanted,  except  money.  They  said  there  were 
plenty  of  other  witches  about  the  neighborhood,  and  accused 
several  persons  by  name. 

.This  year,  however,  witnessed  a  much  more  remarkable  af¬ 
fair  than  any  of  these,  and  one  which  made  a  considerable  sen¬ 
sation.  It  has  gained  in  modern  times  an  additional  importance 
from  the^  circumstance  that  the  great  historical  novelist,  Sir 
W  alter  Scott,  has  made  it  the  foundation  of  one  of  his  ro¬ 
mances.  I  shall  give  it  nearly  in  the  words  of  the  report  writ¬ 
ten  at  or  near  the  time. 

After  Charles’s  death,  the  royal  property  was  confiscated  to 
the  state,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  by  parliament  to 
survey  and  sell  the  crown  lands.  Among  the  royal  estates  was 
the  manor  ot  W  oodstock,  ol  which  the  parliamentary  commis¬ 
sioners  were  sent  to  take  possession  in  the  month  of  October, 
1649.  The  more  fanatical  part  of  the  opponents  of  royalty  had 
always  taught  that,  through  witches  and  otherwise,  the  devil  was 
actively  engaged  in  the  service  of  their  opponents,  battling 
against  them  ;  and  they  now  found  him  resolved  upon  more 
open  hostilities  than  ever.  On  the  third  of  October,  the  com¬ 
missioners,  with  their  servants,  went  to  the  manor-hall,  and  took 
up  their  lodgings  in  the  king’s  own  rooms,  the  bed-chamber  and 
withdrawing-room  :  the  former  they  used  as  their  kitchen,  the 
council-hall  was  their  brewhouse,  the  chamber  of  presence 
served  as  their  place  of  sitting  to  despatch  business,  and  the 
dining-room  was  used  as  a  woodhouse,  where  they  laid  the 
wood  ol  “  that  ancient  standard  in  the  high  park,  known  of  all 
by  the  name  of  the  king’s  oak,  which  (that  nothing  might  re¬ 
main  that  had  the  name  of  king  affixed  to  it)  they  digged  up  by 
the  roots.”  ° 


316 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


On  the  14th  and  15th  of  October  they  had  little  disturbance  ; 
but  on  the  16th  there  came,  as  they  thought,  something  into  the 
bed-chamber,  where  two  of  the  commissioners  and  their  servant 
lay,  in  the  shape  of  a  dog,  which  going  under  their  bed,  did,  as 
it  were,  gnaw  their  bed-cords  ;  but  on  the  morrow  finding  them 
whole,  and  a  quarter  of  beef  which  lay  on  the  ground  untouched, 
they  “  began  to  entertain  other  thoughts.”  October  17. — Some¬ 
thing,  to  their  thinking,  removed  all  the  wood  of  the  king’s  oak 
out  of  the  dining-room  to  the  presence-chamber,  and  hurled  the 
chairs  and  stools  up  and  down  that  room  ;  from  whence  it  came 
into  the  two  chambers  where  the  two  commissioners  and  their 
servants  lay,  and  hoisted  up  their  bed  feet  so  much  higher  than 
their  heads,  that  they  thought  they  should  have  been  turned  over 
and  over,  and  then  let  them  fall  down  with  such  force,  that  their 
bodies  rebounded  from  the  bed  a  good  distance  ;  and  then  shook 
the  bedsteads  so  violently,  that  they  declared  their  bodies  wrere 
sore  with  it.  On  the  18th,  something  came  into  the  chamber 
and  walked  up  and  down,  and  fetching  the  warming-pan  out  of 
the  withdrawing-room,  made  so  much  noise  that  they  thought 
fire-bells  could  not  have  made  more.  Next  day  trenchers  wrere 
thrown  up  and  down  the  dining-room,  and  at  those  who  slept 
there  ;  one  of  them  being  wakened,  put  forth  his  head  to  see 
what  was  the  matter,  and  had  trenchers  thrown  at  him.  On  the 
20th,  the  curtains  of  the  bed  in  the  withdrawing-room  were 
drawn  to  and  fro  ;  the  bedstead  was  much  shaken,  and  eight 
great  pewter  dishes  and  three  dozen  of  trenchers  thrown  about 
the  bedchamber  again.  This  night  they  also  thought  a  whole 
armful  of  the  wood  of  the  king’s  oak  was  thrown  down  in  their 
chamber,  but  of  that  in  the  morning  they  found  nothing  had  been 
moved.  On  the  21st,  the  keeper  of  their  ordinary  and  his  bitch 
lay  in  one  of  the  rooms  with  them,  and  on  that  night  they  were 
not  disturbed  at  all.  But  on  the  22d,  though  the  bitch  slept 
there  again,  to  which  circumstance  they  had  ascribed  their  for¬ 
mer  night’s  rest,  both  they  and  it  were  in  “  a  pitiful  taking,”  the 
latter  “  opening  but  once,  and  then  with  a  whining  fearful  yelp.” 
October  23. — They  had  all  their  clothes  plucked  off  them  in  the 
withdrawing-room,  and  the  bricks  fell  out  of  the  chimney  into 
the  room.  On  the  24th,  they  thought  in  the  dining-room  that  all 
the  wood  of  the  king’s  oak  had  been  brought  thither,  and  thrown 
down  close  by  their  bed-side,  which  being  heard  by  those  of  the 
withdrawing-room,  “  one  of  them  rose  to  see  what  was  done, 
fearing  indeed  his  fellow-commissioners  had  been  'killed,  but 
lound  no  such  matter.  Whereupon  returning  to  his  bed  again, 


THE  DISTURBANCES  AT  WOODSTOCK.  317 

he  found  two  or  three  dozen  of  trenchers  thrown  into  it,  and 
handsomely  covered  with  the  bed-clothes.” 

The  commissioners  persisted  in  retaining  possession,  and 
were  subjected  to  new  persecutions.  On  the  25th  of  October 
the  curtains  of  the  bed  in  the  withdrawing-room  were  drawn  to 
and  fro,  and  the  bedstead  shaken,  as  before ;  and  in  the  bed- 
chamber,  glass  flew  about  so  thick  (and  yet  not  one  of  the  cham¬ 
ber-windows  broken),  that  they  thought  it  had  rained  money  • 
whereupon  they  lighted  candles,  but  “  to  their  grief  they  found 
nothing  but  glass.”  On  the  29th  something  going  to  the  window 
opened  and  shut  it,  then  going  into  the  bed-chamber,  it  threw 
great  stones  for  half  an  hour’s  time,  some  whereof  fell  on  the 
high-bed,  others  on  the  truclde-bed,  to  the  number  in  all  of  above 
iours core.  This  night  there  was  also  a  very  great  noise,  as  if 
lorty  pieces  of  ordnance  had  been  shot  oft’  together.  It  aston¬ 
ished  all  tne  neighborhood,  and  it  was  thought  it  must  have  been 
heard  a  great  way  oil’.  •  During  ^hese  noises,  which  were  heard 
m  both  rooms  together,  the  commissioners  and  their  servants 
were  struck  with  so  great  horror,  that  they  cried  out  one  to  an¬ 
other  lor  help ;  whereupon  one  of  them  recovering  himself  out 
of  a  strange  agony”  he  had  been  in,  snatched  a  svvord,  and  had 
like  to  have  killed  one  of  his  brethren  coming  out  of  his  bed  in 
his  shirt,  whom  he  took  for  the  spirit  that  did  the  mischief 
However,  at  length  they  got  all  together,  yet  the  noise  contin¬ 
ued  so  great  and  terrible,  and  shook  the  walls  so  much,  that 
they  thought  the  whole  manor  would  have  fallen  on  their  heads. 
At  the  departure  of  the  supernatural  disturber  of  their  repose, 
it  took  all  the  glass  of  the  windows  away  with  it.”  On  the 
rst  o  November,  something,  as  the  commissioners  thought, 
walked  up  and  down  the  withdrawing-room,  and  then  made  a 
noise  in  the  dining-room.  The  stones  which  were  left  before, 
and  laid  up  in  the  witlidrawing-room,  were  all  fetched  away  this 

mg  it,,  and  a  great  deal  of  glass  (not  like  the  former)  thrown 
about  again. 

On  the  second  of  November,  there  came  something  into  the 
withdrawing-room,  treading,  as  they  conceived,  much  like  a  bear 
which  began  by  walking  about  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then 
at  length  it  made  a  noise  about  the  table  and  threw  the  warming- 
pan  so  violently  that  it  was  quite  spoiled.  It  threw  also  a  glass 
and  great  stones  at  the  commissioners  again,  and  the  bones  of 
horses  ;  and  all  so  violenlly,  that  the  bedstead  and  the  walls  were 
bruised  by  them.  That  night  they  planted  candles  all  about  the 
rooms,  and  made  fires  up  to  the  “  rantle-trees”  of  the  chimney 

27* 


318 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


but  all  were  put  out,  nobody  knew  how,  the  fire  and  burnt  wood  be¬ 
ing  thrown  up  and  down  the  room  ;  the  curtains  were  torn  with  the 
rods  from  their  beds,  and  the  bed-posts  pulled  away,  that  the  tes¬ 
ter  fell  down  upon  them,  and  the  feet  of  the  bedstead  were  cloven 
into  two.  The  servants  in  the  truckle-bed,  who  lay  all  the  time 
sweating  for  fear,  were  treated  even  worse,  for  there  came  upon 
them  first  a  little  which  made  them  begin  to  stir,  but  before  they 
could  get  out,  it  was  followed  by  a  whole  tubful,  as  it  were,  of 
stinking  ditch  water,  so  green,  that  it  made  their  shirts  and  sheets 
of  that  color  too.  The  same  night  the  windows  were  all  broke 
by  throwing  of  stones,  and  there  was  most  terrible  noises  in 
three  several  places  together  near  them.  Nay,  the  very  rabbit- 
stealers  who  were  abroad  that  night  were  so  affrighted  with  the 
dismal  thundering,  that  for.  haste  they  left  their  ferrets  in  the 
holes  behind  them,  beyond  Rosamond’s  well.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  one  of  them  had  the  boldness  to  ask,  in  the  name  of  God, 
what  it  was,  what  it  would  ha^p,  and  what  they  had  done  that 
they  should  be  so  disturbed  after  this  manner.  To  which  no 
answer  was  given,  but  the  noise  ceased  for  a  while.  At  length 
it  came  again,  and,  as  all  of  them  said,  brought  seven  devils  worse 
than  itself.  Whereupon  one  of  them  lighted  a  candle  again,  and 
set  it  between  the  two  chambers  in  the  doorway,  on  which  an¬ 
other  fixing  his  eves  saw  the  similitude  of  a  hoof,  striking  the 
candle  and  candlestick  into  the  middle  of  the  bed-chamber,  and 
afterward  making  three  scrapes  on  the  snuff  to  put  it  out.  Upon 
this,  the  same  person  was  so  bold  as  to  draw  his  sword,  but  he 
had  scarce  got  it  out,  but  there  was  another  invisible  hand  had  hold 
of  it  too,  and  tugged  with  him  for  it ;  and  prevailing,  struck  him 
so  violently,  that  he  was  stunned  with  the  blow.  Then  began 
violent  noises  again,  insomuch  that  they,  calling  taone  another, 
got  together,  and  went  into  the  presence-chamber,  where  they 
said  prayers,  and  sang  psalms  ;  notwithstanding  all  which,  the 
thundering  noises  still  continued  in  other  rooms.  After  this,  on 
the  third  of  November,  they  removed  their  lodging  over  the  gate  ; 
and  next  day,  being  Sunday,  went  to  Ewelm,  “  where,  how  they 
escaped  the  authors  of  the  relation  knew  not,  but  returning  on 
Monday,  the  devil  (for  that  was  the  name  they  gave  their  nightly 
guest)  left  them  not  unvisited,  nor  on  the  Tuesday  following, 
which  was  the  last  day  they  stayed.”  The  courage  even  of  the 
devout  commissioners  of  the  parliament  was  not  proof  against 
a  persecution  like  this,  and  the  manor  of  Woodstock  was  relieved 
from  their  presence.  It  is  said  that  one  of  the  old  retainers  of 
the  house,  years  afterward,  confessed  that  he  had  entered  the  ser- 


A  WITCH-FINDER  AT  NEWCASTLE. 


319 


vice  of  ihe  commissioners,  in  order  by  playing  these  tricks  upon 
them,  which  he  was  enabled  to  do  by  his  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  secret  passages  of  the  lodge,  to  rescue  it  from  their 
grasp. 

Hopkins  and  Sterne  were  not  without  their  imitators  in  other 
parts  of  the  country.  About  the  end  of  the  year  of  which  we 
have  just  been  speaking,  the  magistrates  of  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne  were  alarmed  at  the  reports  of  witches  in  that  town,  and 
they  sent  into  Scotland  fer  a  practiser  in  the  art  of  discovering 
them.  They  agreed  to  pay  his  travelling  expenses,  and  give 
him  twenty  shillings  for  every  witch  who  should  be  convicted — 
an  excellent  method  of  increasing  their  number.  No  sooner  was 
the  Scotchman  arrived  in  Newcastle,  than  the  bellman  was  sent 
round  the  town  to  invite  all  persons  to  bring  their  complaints 
against  women  suspected,  and  about  thirty  were  brought  to  the 
town-hall,  and  subjected,  in  ihe  sight  of  all  the  people  collected 
there,  to  his  examination.  We  are  told  that  his  practice  was  to 
lay  the  body  of  the  person  suspected  naked  to  the  waist,  and  then 
run  a  pin  into  her  thigh,  after  which  he  suddenly  let  her  coats 
fall,  and  asked  her  if  she  had  nothing  of  his  in  her  body  which 
did  not  bleed  ;  the  woman  was  hindered  from  replying  by  shame 
and  fear,  and  he  immediately  took  out  the  pin  and  set  her  aside 
as  a  convicted  witch.  By  this  atrocious  process,  he  ascertained 
that  twenty-seven  persons  were  practisers  of  sorcery,  and  at  the 
ensuing  assizes  fourteen  women  and  a  man  were  found  guilty 
and  executed.  The  names  of  the  sufferers  are  recorded  in  the 
register  of  the  parish  of  St.  Andrew’s. 

Just,  at  the  time  when  the  commonwealth  was  merging  into 
the  protectorate,  in  the  years  1652,  ’53,  we  find  cases  of  witch¬ 
craft  becoming  suddenly  more  numerous,  or,  which  is  perhaps 
nearer  the  truth,  there  were  for  some  cause  or  other  more  print¬ 
ed  reports  of  them.  In  the  former  year  a  witch  was  hanged  at 
Worcester.  On  the  11th  of  April,  1652,  one  Joan  Peterson, 
known  as  the  witch  of  Wapping,  was  hanged  at  Tyburn.  She 
lived  in  Spruce  island,  near  Shadwell,  and  was  said  to  have  done 
on  the  whole  more  good  than  harm,  for  she  practised  chiefly  as 
a  white  witch.  Strange  things,  however,  were  told  of  her.  A 
man  deposed  that  he  was  sitting  with  her  in  her  house  and  saw 
her  familiar,  in  the  shape  of  a  black  dog,  come  in  and  suck  her. 
And  two  women  said  that,  as  they  were  watching  with  a  child 
of  one  of  their  neighbors  that  was  strangely  distempered,  “  about 
midnight  they  espied  (to  their  thinking)  a  great  black  cat  come  to 
the  cradle’s  side  and  stopped  the  cradling,  whereupon  one  of  the 


320 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


women  took  up  the  fire-fork  to  strike  at  it,  and  it  immediately 
vanished.  About  an  hour  after  the  cat  came  again  to  the  cradle 
side  ;  whereupon  the  other  woman  kicked  at  it,  but  it  presently 
vanished,  and  that  leg  that  she  kicked  with  began  to  swell  and 
be  very  sore,  whereupon  they  were  both  afraid,  and  calling  upon 
the  master  of  the  house,  took  their  leave.  As  they  were  going 
to  their  own  homes,  they  met  a  baker,  who  was  likewise  a  neigh¬ 
bor’s  servant,  who  told  them  that  he  saw  a  great  black  cat  that 
had  so  frightened  him  that  his  hair  stood  an  end  ;  whereupon  the 
women  told  him  what  they  had  seen,  who  said  he  thought  in  his 
conscience  that  Peterson  had  bewitched  the  aforesaid  child,  for 
(quoth  the  baker),  ‘  I  met  the  witch  a  little  before  going  down  the 
island.’  ”  The  baker  gave  his  testimony  in  court,  and  when  asked 
by  the  judge  the  very  pertinent  question,  “whether  he  had  not 
at  other  times  as  well  as  that  been  afraid  of  a  cat,  he  answered 
no,  and  that  he  never  saw  such  a  cat  before,  and  hoped  in  God 
he  should  never  see  the  like  again.” 

On  the  30th  of  July,  1652,  no  less  than  six  witches  were  con¬ 
demned  at  Maidstone,  in  Kent.  In  addition  to  the  usual  circum¬ 
stances  in  such  cases,  they  confessed  that  the  devil  had  given 
them  a  piece  of  flesh,  “  which,  whensoever  they  should  touch 
they  should  thereby  effect,  their  desires  ;  that  this  flesh  lay  hid 
among  grass,  in  a  certain  place  which  she  named,  where  upon 
search  it  was  found  accordingly.”  The  flesh  was  brought  into 
court  as  an  evidence  against  them,  and  the  author  of  the  printed 
report  informs  us  that  it  “  was  of  a  sinewy  substance,  and 
scorched,  and  was  seen  and  felt  by  this  observator,  and  reserved 
for  public  view  at  the  sign  of  the  Swan,  in  Maidstone.”  Other 
witches  were  brought  to  trial,  and  some  found  guilty,  but  four  only 
were  hanged.  “  Some  there  were  that  wished  rather  they  might 
be  burnt  to  ashes  ;  alleging,  that  it  was  a  received  opinion  among 
many  that  the  body  of  a  witch  being  burnt,  her  blood  is  prevent¬ 
ed  thereby  from  becoming  hereditary  to  her  progeny  in  the  same 
evil,  while  by  hanging  it  is  not ;  but  whether  this  opinion  be  er¬ 
roneous  or  not,  I,”  says  the  narrator,  “  am  not  to  dispute.” 

The  following  year  (1653)  witnessed  the  execution  at  Salis¬ 
bury,  of  a  woman  who  had  been  in  her  younger  days  the  servant 
of  the  famous  Dr.  Lamb.  Her  name  was  Anne  Bodenham,  and 
she  appears  to  have  been  initiated  into  Lamb’s  practices,  and  to 
have  settled  at  Salisbury  in  the  character  of  a  wise  woman. 
She  helped  people  to  recover  things  stolen,  cured  diseases,  and 
seems  to  have  carried  on  the  practice  of  poisoning.  Many  of 
those  charged  with  the  crime  of  witchcraft  appear  to  have  been 


SIR  ROBERT  FILMOR. 


321 


secret  possessors  of  the  art  of  poisoning.  The  depositions 
against  Anne  Bodenham  were  of  a  remarkable  character.  It 
appears  that  a  little  girl  had  been  bewitched,  and  the  wise  woman 
Bodenham  was  accused  of  being  in  some  way  or  other  concerned 
in  it.  A  servant-girl  was  sent  to  consult  her,  and  she  deposed 
that  Anne  Bodenham,  having  taken  her  into  a  room  in  her  house, 
made  a  circle  on  the  lloor  and  carefully  swept  the  space  within 
it.  She  then  looked  in  a  glass,  and  in  a  book,  uttering  certain 
mysterious  words,  and  placed  an  earthen  pan  full  of  coals  in  the 
middle  ol  the  circle.  Five  spirits  then  appeared  in  the  shape 
of  ragged  boys,  and  at  the  same  there  arose  a  high  wind  which 
shook  the  house.  She  gave  the  spirits  crumbs  of  bread,  which 
they  picked  from  the  floor  and  ate,  and  then,  after  they  had  all 
leaped  over  the  pan  of  coals,  they  danced  with  the  witch  and  the 
maid-servant.  The  latter  had  witnessed  this  scene  more  than 
once,  and  on  one  occasion  she  was  carried  to  a  meadow  at  Wil¬ 
ton  to  gather  vervain  and  dill.  She  declared  that  she  had  seen 
Anne  Bodenham  transform  herself  into  a  great  black  cat. 

The  improvement  in  intelligence  and  liberality  under  the  pro¬ 
tectorate  is  shown  by  the  publication  of  two  treatises,  which 
contained  the  boldest  protests  against  the  iniquity  of  the  witch 
persecution  that  had  appeared  since  the  days  of  Reginald  Scott. 
The  trials  at  Maidstone  in  1653  had  so  much  shocked  the  good 
sense  of  some  of  the  gentlemen  of  Kent,  that  it  produced  from 
one  of  them,  Sir  Robert  Filmor,  a  tract  entitled,  “  An  Advertise¬ 
ment  to  the  Jurymen  of  England,  touching  Witches,”  in  which 
he  pointed  out  the  ridiculous  absurdity  ofVne  proofs  by  which 
this  class  of  offenders  were  usually  convicted.  “  The  late  ex¬ 
ecution  of  witches  at  the  summer  assizes  in  Kent,”  he  says, 
occasioned  this  brief  exercitation,  which  addresses  itself  to 
such  as  have  not  deliberately  thought  upon  the  great  difficulty 
in  discovering  what  or  who  a  witch  is.  To  have  nothing  but 
the  public  faith  of  the  present  age,  is  none  of  the  best  evidence, 
unless  the  universality  of  elder  times  do  concur  with  these  doc¬ 
trines,  which  ignorance  in  the  times  of  darkness  brought  forth, 
and  credulity  in  these  days  of  light  hath  continued.”  Language 
like  this  must  have  sounded  strange  within  six  or  seven  years 
alter  the  fury  of  persecution  which  had  been  excited  by  Mat¬ 
thew  Hopkins;  yet  in  this  spirit  Filmor  proceeds  calmly  to  con¬ 
sider  and  refute  each  of  the  reasons  on  which  the  ivitch-finders 
depended,  ending  with  the  crowning  proof  supposed  to  be  de¬ 
rived  from  the  devil  himself  declaring  against  his  victims, 

“  which,  how  it  can  be  well  done,  except  the  devil  be  bound 


322 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


over  to  give  in  evidence  against  the  witch,  can  not  be  under¬ 
stood.” 

This  book,  which  marked  the  commencement  of  the  protecto¬ 
rate,  was  published  anonymously  ;  but  two  years  after,  in  1655, 
a  minister  of  the  name  of  Thomas  Ady  put  forth  in  the  same,  or 
even  in  a  more  enlightened,  spirit,  a  book  entitled,  “  A  Candle 
in  the  Dark,  or  a  treatise  concerning  the  nature  of  witches  and 
witchcraft  ;  being  advice  to  judges,  sheriffs,  justices  of  the 
peace,  and  grand  jurymen,  what  to  do  before  they  pass  sen¬ 
tence  on  such  as  are  arraigned  for  their  lives  as  witches.” 
Ady  has  enlivened  his  book  with  a  variety  of  anecdotes  and 
scraps  of  information  relating  to  the  popular  superstitions  of  the 
day,  and  in  speaking  of  charms,  which  he  regards  as  mere  rel¬ 
ics  of  popery,  he  gives  the  following  as  the  most  approved  rem¬ 
edy  against  the  bewitching  of  milk  when  it  will  not  work  prop¬ 
erly  in  the  churn.  The  maid,  while  churning,  was  to  repeat  the 
words  : — ■ 

Come,  butter,  come  ;  come,  butter,  come  ; 

Peter  stands  at  the  gate, 

W  aiting  for  a  buttered  cake  ; 

Come,  butter,  come. 

This,  Ady  says,  was  told  by  an  old  witch  who  declared  that  her 
grandmother  had  learned  it  in  the  good  days  of  Queen  Mary. 

The  reign  of  the  protector  Oliver  wras  certainly  not  favorable 
to  the  persecution  of  witches.  Yet  two  persons,  a  mother  and 
daughter,  were  hanged  at  Bury  St.  Edmonds,  about  the  year 
1655,  and  in  the  November  of  1657  a  rather  remarkable  case 
occurred  at  Shepton  Mallet  in  Somersetshire.  A  woman  named 
Jane  Brooks  was  accused  of  bewitching  a  boy  named  Jones,  by 
giving  him  an  apple,  which  he  roasted  and  ate.  He  was  imme¬ 
diately  seized  with  strange  fits,  and  while  under  their  influence 
he  cried  out  against  Jane  Brooks  and  her  sister  as  the  cause  of 
his  suffering.  It  was  deposed  at  the  trial  that,  one  Sunday 
afternoon,  in  company  with  his  father  and  a  cousin  named  Gib¬ 
son,  he  was  suddenly  visited  with  a  fit,  and  he  said  that  he  saw 
Jane  Brooks  against  the  wall  of  the  room,  pointing  to  the  spot 
where  he  pretended  she  stood.  Gibson  took  up  a  knife  and 
struck  at  the  part  of  the  wall  to  which  the  boy  pointed,  and  the 
latter  immediately  exclaimed,  “  Oh,  father!  Cousin  Gibson  hath 
cut  Jane  Brook’s  hand,  and  it  is  bloody !”  They  immediately 
took  a  constable,  and  went  with  him  to  the  woman’s  house, 
where  they  found  her  sitting  on  a  stool,  with  her  hands  before 
her,  one  placed  on  the  other.  The  constable  inquired  how  she 


A  REPUBLICAN  WITCH. 


323 


did,  and  she  replied,  not  well.  He  then  ashed  her  why  she 
sat  in  that  position,  with  her  hands  before  her,  to  which  she  re¬ 
plied  that  it  was  her  wont  to  do  so.  When  he  asked  further  if 
nothing  ailed  her  hand,  she  said,  “  No,  it  was  well  enough.” 
Still  not  satisfied,  he  forced  one  hand  from  under  the  other,  and 
found  it  bleeding  just  as  the  boy  had  described.  On  being  asked 
how  this  happened,  she  said  she  had  scratched  her  hand  with  a 
great  pin.*  This  was  sufficient  matter  for  carrying  the  woman 
to  prison.  It  was  pretended  that  the  boy  was  often  lifted  about 
in  an  extraordinary  manner ;  and  one  woman  declared  that  on 
the  25th  of  February,  1658,  being  seized  with  one  of  his  fits 
while  in  her  house,  he  went  out  of  the  house  into  the  garden, 
and  she  followed  him.  There  she  saw  him  gradually  lifted  up 
into  the  air,  and  pass  away  over  a  wall,  and  she  saw  no  more 
of  him  till  he  was  found  lying  at  the  door  of  a  house  at  some 
distance,  when  he  declared  that  he  had  been  carried  there  by 
Jane  Brooks.  She  was  tried  at  Chard  assizes,  on  the  26th  of 
March,  1658,  and,  as  might  be  expected  from  such  conclusive 
evidence,  condemned. 

About  the  period  of  the  protector’s  death,  a  witch  was  hanged 
at  Norwich,  and  several  punished  in  the  same  w’ay  in  Cornwall  ; 
and  in  1659,  two  were  hanged  at  Lancaster,  who  protested  their 
innocence  to  the  last.  The  approach  of  a  great  political  change, 
and  the  animosities  of  party  which  attended  it,  always  furnished 
the  opportunity,  even  in  humble  life,  of  gratifying  personal  re¬ 
sentments  ;  and  we  shall  find  immediately  after  the  restoration 
that  the  cases  of  witchcraft  were  again  numerous.  At  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  period  of  the  interregnum,  the  devil  was  the  ene¬ 
my  of  the  republicans — at  its  close  he  was  opposed  to  the  roy¬ 
alists.  On  the  14th  of  May,  1660,  four  persons  at  Kiddermin¬ 
ster,  a  widow,  her  two  daughters,  and  a  man,  were  charged  with 
various  acts  of  witchcraft,  and  carried  to  Worcester  jail.  The 
eldest  daughter  was  accused  of  saying  that,  if  they  had  not  been 
taken,  the  king  should  never  have  come  to  England,  “  and, 

*  The  following-  story  is  given  in  Dr.  Hutchinson’s  Historical  Essay  on  Witch¬ 
craft  :  “  About  the  year  1645,  there  was  at  Chelmsford  an  afflicted  person,  that  in 
her  fits  cried  out  against  a  woman,  a  neighbor  which  Mr.  Clark,  the  minister  of  the 
gospel  there,  could  not  believe  to  be  guilty  of  such  a  crime.  And  it  happened,  while 
that  woman  milked  her  cow,  the  cow  struck  her  with  one  horn  upon  the  fore¬ 
head,  and  fetched  blood  ;  and  while  she  was  thus  bleeding,  a  spectre  in  her  likeness 
appeared  to  the  person  afflicted,  who,  pointing  at  the  spectre,  one  struck  at  the  place, 
and  the  afflicted  said,  ‘  You  have  made  her  forehead  bleed.’  Hereupon  some 
went  to  the  woman,  and  found  her  forehead  bloody,  and  acquainted  Mr.  Clark 
with  it;  who  forthwith  went  to  the  woman,  and  asked  how  her  forehead  became 
b]oody  ;  and  she  answered,  ‘  by  a  blow  of  the  cow’s  horn  whereby  he  was  satis¬ 
fied  that  it  was  a  design  of  Satan  to  render  an  innocent  person  suspected.” 


324 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


though  he  now  doth  come,  yet  he  shall  not  live  long,  but  shall 
die  as  ill  a  death  as  they  ;  and  that  they  would  have  made  corn 
like  pepper.”  These  were  the  mere  ravings  of  puritanical  dis¬ 
content,  repetitions  probably  of  sentiments  they  had  heard  among 
their  neighbors.  The  relater  continues  :  “  Many  great  charges 
against  them,  and  little  proved,  they  were  put  to  the  ducking  in 
the  river  :  they  would  not  sink,  but  swam  aloft.  The  man  had 
five  teats,  the  women  three,  and  the  eldest  daughter  one.  When 
they  went  to  search  the  women,  none  were  visible  ;  one  advised 
to  lay  them  on  their  backs  and  keep  open  their  mouths,  and  then 
they  would  appear  ;  and  so  they  presently  appeared  in  sight.” 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

WITCHCRAFT  IN  GERMANY  IN  THE  EARLIER  PART  OF 
THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

In  Germany,  since  the  fifteenth  century,  sorcery  had  been  un¬ 
dergoing  much  the  same  fate  as  in  France  and  Spain.  In  the 
writers  of  the  sixteenth  century  we  trace  a  system  of  demonol¬ 
ogy  differing  only  in  some  of  its  details  from  that  of  the  other 
countries  which  we  have  reviewed,  and  in  some  respects  per¬ 
haps  more  complete.  It  has  more  bold  and  striking  points,  a 
circumstance  arising  no  doubt  from  the  fact  that  here  the  ancient 
Teutonic  mythology  retained  a  stronger  hold  upon  the  popular 
mind.  The  sites  of  primitive  worship  are  more  distinctly 
marked  ;  and  such  mountains  as  Blocksberg,  Inselsberg,  Wec- 
kingstein  near  Minden,  Staffelstein  near  Bamberg,  Kreidenberg 
near  Wurzburg,  Rbnigsberg  near  Loccum,  Fellerberg  near 
Treves,  Kandel  in  Brisgau,  and  Heuberg  in  the  Schwarz 
forest,  which  occur  as  the  scenes  of  the  great  sabbaths  of  the 
witches  of  this  period,  were  no  doubt  sacred  places  of  the  early 
Germans. 

The  witchcraft  trials  in  Germany  during  the  sixteenth  century 
were  numerous  and  curious,  and  there  as  elsewhere  we  can  trace 
their  origin  often  in  personal  feuds,  in  political  enmities,  and 
more  especially  in  religious  differences.*  It  was,  however,  at 

*  The  best  general  treatise  on  witchcraft  in  the  German  language  is,  I  believe, 
that  by  Dr.  W.  G.  Soldan,  “  Geschichte  der  Hexenprocesse,  ans  den  Q.uellen  dar'- 
gestellt.”  (Stuttgart,  1843.)  The  great  collections  of  materials  are  Horst’s  Zau- 


325 


PERSECUTION  OF  WITCHES  AT  WURZBURG. 


the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century,  on  the  eve  of 
those  terrible  religious  wars  which  tore  Germany  to  pieces,  that 
the  prosecutions  against  witchcraft  took  there  their  grand  develop- 
ment  They  were  most  remarkable  at  the  cities  of  Bamberg  and 
Wurzburg  and  other  places  where  the  Roman  catholic  religion 
was  prevalent,  and  which  were  under  the  immediate  influence  of 
the  Jesuits.  Some  of  the  earlier  writers  on  sorcery  had  declared 
that  the  increasing  number  of  witches  in  the  sixteenth  century 
was  owing  to  the  spread  of  protestantism,  and  the  Jesuits  now 
seized  upon  this  doctrine  as  a  means  of  influencing  the  minds  of 
tne  vulgar  against  the  heretic.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  of 
the  multitudes  of  persons  who  perished  at  the  stake  in  Germany 
during  the  lirst  hall  of  the  seventeenth  century  for  sorcery  the 

only  crime  of  many  was  their  attachment  to  the  religion  of 
Luther. 


The  period  of  the  great  persecutions  of  witches  in  Wurzburg 
and  Bamberg  was  one  of  great  suffering,  when  the  country  had 
been  reduced  to  poverty  by  a  merciless  war,  and  when  the  petty 
princes  oi  the  empire  were  not  unwilling  to  seize  upon  any  pre¬ 
tence  to  fill  their  coffers  ;  and  it  has  been  remarked  that  in  Bam¬ 
berg,  at  least,  the  persons  prosecuted  were  in  general  those,  the 
confiscation  of  whose  property  was  a  matter  of  consideration. 
At  Bamberg,  as  well  as  at  Wurzburg,  the  bishop  was  a  sovereign 
prince  in  his  dominions.  There  had  long  been  a  silent  war  In 
this  place  between  Catholicism  and  the  reformation,  for  the  latter 
had  gained  a  footing  in  the  preceding  age  from  which  its  oppo¬ 
nents  had  not  yet  been  able  to  drive  it.  The  prince-bishop  John 
Leorge  II  who  ruled  Bamberg  from  1622  to  1633,  after  several 
unsuccessuil  attempts  to  root  out  Lutheranism  from  his  domin¬ 
ions,  commenced  Ins  attacks  upon  it  in  1625,  under  another  name, 
and  the  rest  of  his  reign  was  distinguished  by  a  series  of  sangui¬ 
nary  witch-trials  which  disgrace  the  annals  of  that  city.  His 
grand  agent  in  these  proceedings  was  Frederic  Forner,  suffragan 
ot  Bamberg,  a  blind  supporter  of  the  Jesuits,  and  a  great  enemy 
ox  heretics  and  sorcerers,  against  whom  he  published  a  treatise 
under  the  formidable  title  of  Panopiia  armature  Dei.  We  may 
form  some  notion  of  the  proceedings  of  this  worthy  from  the 
statement  of  the  most  authentic  historians  of  this  city,  that  be¬ 
tween  1625  and  1639,  not  less  than  nine  hundred  trials  took  place 
in  the  two  courts  of  Bamberg  and  Zeil ;  and  a  pamphlet  pub- 


ber-B ibliothek,  and  Haulier's  Bibliotheca  Magica.  The  present  chapter  is  taken 
of  this  book  was  written  ’  Whl°h  1  W“  UOt  acqUainted  when  the  earlier  part 


28 


326 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


lished  at  Bamberg  by  authority,  in  1659,  states  the  number  of 
persons  which  Bishop  John  George  had  caused  to  be  burnt  for 
sorcery,  to  have  been  six  hundred. 

Among  the  persons  thus  sacrificed  were  the  chancellor,  his  son, 
Doctor  Horn,  with  his  wife  and  two  daughters,  and  many  of  the 
lords  and  councillors  of  the  bishop’s  court,  and  these  are  stated 
to  have  confessed  that  above  twelve  hundred  of  them  had  con¬ 
federated  together,  and  that  if  their  sorcery  had  not  been  brought 
to  light,  they  would  have  brought  it  to  pass  within  four  years,  that 
there  would  have  been  neither  wine  nor  corn  in  the  country,  and 
that  thereby  man  and  beast  would  have  perished  with  hunger, 
and  men  be  driven  to  eat  one  another.  There  were  even  some 
catholic  priests,  we  are  told,  among  them,  who  had  been  led  into 
practices  too  dreadful  to  be  described,  and  they  confessed,  among 
other  things,  that  they  had  baptized  many  children  in  the  devil’s 
name.  It  must  be  stated  that  these  confessions  were  made  un¬ 
der  tortures  of  the  most  fearful  kind,  far  more  so  than  anything 
that  was  practised  in  France  or  other  countries.  Two  of  the  city 
magistrates  (biirgurmeisters),  besides  other  extraordinary  things 
they  had  done,  said  that  they  had  often  raised  such  terrible 
storms,  that  houses  were  thrown  down  and  trees  torn  up  by  the 
roots,  and  that  it  had  been  their  intention  to  raise  such  a  wind  as 
should  overthrow  the  great  tower  of  Bamberg.  The  wives  of 
one  of  the  burgomasters  and  of  the  town-butcher  declared  that  it 
was  their  task  to  make  the  ointment  for  the  sorcerers,  from  each 
of  which  they  received  two  pennies  a  week,  and  that  this 
amounted  in  a  year  to  six  hundred  gulders  or  florins.  The  bur¬ 
gomaster  Neidecker,  acknowledged  that  he  had  assisted  in  poi¬ 
soning  the  w'ells  by  sorcery,  so  that  whoever  drank  of  them  would 
immediately  be  struck  with  pestilence,  and  that  thus  great  multi¬ 
tudes  had  perished.  The  history  of  Germany  shows  how  easy 
it  was  at  this  time  to  point  out  the  ravages  of  war,  pestilence,  and 
famine.  It  was  also  acknowledged  that  no  less  than  three  thou- 
sand  sorcerers  and  witches  assembled  at  the  dance  on  the  Kreid- 
enberg  mountain  near  Wurzburg,  on  the  night  of  St.  Walpurgis, 
and  that  each  having  given  a  krevzer  to  the  musician,  he  gained 
no  less  than  forty  gulders,  and  that  at  the  same  dance  they  drunk 
seven  “  fudder”  of  wine  which  they  had  stolen  from  the  bishop 
of  Wurzburg’s  cellar.  There  were  little  girls  of  from  seven  to 
ten  years  of  age  among  the  witches,  and  seven-and-twenty  of 
them  were  convicted  and  burnt.  The  numbers  brought  to  trial 
in  these  terrible  proceedings  were  so  great,  and  they  were 
treated  with  so  little  consideration,  that  it  was  usual  not  even  to 


THE  BURNINGS  AT  WURZBURG. 


327 


take  the  trouble  of  setting  down  their  names,  but  they  were  cited 
as  the  accused,  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  and  so  on.  The  Jesuits  took  their 
confessions  in  private,  and  they  made  up  the  list  of  those  who 
were  understood  to  have  been  denounced  by  them. 

Lutheranism  had  been  gaining  ground  in  Wurzburg  more  even 
than  in  Bamberg,  and  when  Bishop  Julius  came  to  the  see  in 
1575,  the  majority  of  the  population  was  protestant.  The  ener¬ 
gy  with  which  he  set  about  making  converts  alarmed  many  of 
those  who  had  anything  to  lose  in  the  world,  and  the  number  of 
“heretics”  was  thus  soon  diminished.  Nevertheless,  Bishop 
Philip  Adolph,  who  came  to  the  see  in  1623,  found  a  sufficient 
number  of  protestants  to  excite  his  alarm,  and  not  daring,  in  the 
political  position  of  Germany  at  that  moment,  to  persecute  them 
openly  for  their  religion,  he  adopted  the  plan  of  his  neighbor  of 
Bamberg.  A  great  confederacy  of  sorcerers  was  suddenly  dis¬ 
covered,  and  during  two  or  three  years  hundreds  of  people,  of  all 
ages  and  conditions,  were  hurried  to  the  stake.  A  catalogue  of 
nine-and-twenty  brdnde,  or  burnings,  during  a  very  short  period 
of  time  previous  to  the  February  of  1629,  will  give  the  best  no¬ 
tion  of  the  horrible  character  of  these  proceedings  ;  it  is  printed 
from  the  original  record  in  Hauber’s  Bibliotheca  Magica. 

In  the  First  Burning,  Four  Persons. 

The  wife  of  Liebler. 

Old  Ancker’s  widow. 

The  wife  of  Gutbrodt. 

The  wife  of  Hocker. 

$ 

In  the  Second  Burning,  Four  Persons. 

The  old  wife  of  Beutler. 

Two  strange  women. 

The  old  woman  who  kept  the  pot-house. 

Iu  the  Third  Burning,  Five  Persons. 

Tungersleber,  a  minstrel. 

The  wife  of  Kuler. 

The  wife  of  Stier,  a  proctor. 

The  brushmaker’s  wife. 

The  goldsmith’s  wife. 

In  the  Fourth  Burning,  Five  Persons. 

The  wife  of  Siegmund  the  glazier,  a  burgomaster. 

Brickmann’s  wife. 


323 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


The  midwife.  N.B.  She  was  the  origin  of  all  the  mischief. 
Old  Rume’s  wife. 

A  strange  man. 

In  the  Fifth  Burning,  Eight  Persons. 

Lutz,  an  eminent  shopkeeper. 

Rutscher,  a  shopkeeper. 

The  housekeeper  of  the  dean  of  the  cathedral. 

The  old  wife  of  the  court  ropemaker. 

Jo.  Stembach’s  housekeeper. 

The  wife  of  Baunach,  a  senator. 

A  woman  named  Znickel  Babel. 

An  old  woman. 

In  the  Sixth  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

The  steward  of  the  senate,  named  Gering. 

Old  Mrs.  Canzler. 

The  fat  tailor’s  wife. 

The  woman  cook  of  Mr.  Mengerdorf. 

A  strange  man. 

A  strange  woman. 

In  the  Seventh  Burning,  Seven  Persons. 

A  strange  girl  of  twelve  years  old. 

A  strange  man. 

A  strange  woman.* 

A  strange  bailiff  (schultheiss). 

Three  strange  wchnen. 

In  the  Eighth  Burning,  Seven  Persons. 

Baunach,  a  senator,  the  fattest  citizen  in  Wurzburg. 

The  steward  of  the  dean  of  the  cathedral. 

A  strange  man. 

The  knife-grinder. 

The  gauger’s  wife. 

Two  strange  women. 

In  the  Ninth  Burning,  Five  Persons. 

Wunth,  the  wheelwright. 

A  strange  man 

*  It  must  be  understood  that  strange  means,  not  a  citizen  of  Wurzburg.  Per¬ 
haps  the  numerous  strange  men  and  women  were  protestant  refugees  from  other 
parts. 


329 


THE  BURNINGS  AT  WURZBURG. 

Bentze’s  daughter. 

Bentze’s  wife  herself. 

The  wife  of  Eyering. 

In  the  Tenth  Turning ,  Three  Persons. 

Steinacher,  a  very  rich  man. 

A  strange  woman. 

A  strange  man. 

In  the  Eleventh  Burning,  Four  Persons. 

Schwerdt,  a  vicar-choral  in  the  cathedral. 

Rensacker’s  housekeeper. 

The  wife  of  Stiecher. 

Silberhans,  a  minstrel. 

In  the  Twelfth  Burning ,  Two  Persons . 

Two  strange  women. 

In  the  Thirteenth  Burning,  Four  Persons. 

The  old  smith  of  the  court. 

An  old  woman. 

A  little  girl  nine  or  ten  years  old. 

A  younger  girl,  her  little  sister. 

In  the  Fourteenth  Burning,  Two  Persons. 

The  mother  of  the  two  little  girls  before  mentioned. 

Eieblei  s  daughter,  aged  twenty-four  years. 

In  the  Fifteenth  Burning,  Two  P ersons. 

A  boy  of  twelve  years  of  age,  in  the  first  school. 

A  butcher’s  wife. 

In  the  Sixteenth  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

A  noble  page  of  Ratzenstein,  was  executed  in  the  chancellor’s 
yard  at  six  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  left  upon  his  bier  all  dav 

and  then  next  day  burnt  with  the  following : _ 

A  boy  of  ten  years  of  age. 

,pjle  ^w0  daughters  of  the  steward  of  the  senate,  and  his  maid. 
1  he  fat  ropemaker’s  wife. 

In  the  Seventeenth  Burning,  Four  Persons. 

The  innkeeper  of  the  Baiungarten. 

A  boy  eleven  years  old. 


28* 


330 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


The  wife  of  the  apothecary  at  the  Hirsch  {the  Stag),  and  her 
daughter. 

N.B. — A  woman  who  played  the  harp  had  hanged  herself. 

In  the  Eighteenth  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

Batsch,  a  tanner. 

Two  boys  of  twelve  years  old. 

The  daughter  of  Dr.  Junge. 

A  girl  of  fifteen  years  of  age. 

A  strange  woman. 

In  the  Nineteenth  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

A  noble  page  of  Rotenham  was  beheaded  at  six  o’clock  in  the 
chancellor’s  yard,  and  burnt  the  following  day 
The  wife  of  the  secretary  Schellhar. 

A  woman. 

A  boy  of  ten  years  of  age. 

Another  boy  twelve  years  old. 

Brugler’s  wife,  a  cymbal-player  {beckin),  was  burnt  alive. 

In  the  Twentieth  Burning  Six  Persons. 

Gobel’s  child,  the  most  beautiful  girl  in  Wurzburg. 

A  student  on  the  fifth  form,  who  knew  many  languages,  and 
was  an  excellent  musician  vocaliter  et  instrumentaliter . 

Two  boys  from  the  new  minister,  each  twelve  years  old. 
Stepper’s  little  daughter. 

The  woman  who  kept  the  bridge-gate. 

In  the  Twenty-first  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

The  master  of  the  Dietricher  hospital,  a  very  learned  man. 
Stofiel  Holtzmann. 

A  boy  fourteen  years  old. 

The  little  son  of  Senator  Stolzenberger. 

Two  alumni. 

In  the  Twenty-second  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

Stiirman,  a  rich  cooper. 

A  strange  boy. 

The  grown-up  daughter  of  Senator  Stolzenberger. 

The  wife  of  Stolzenberger  herself. 

The  washerwoman  in  the  new  building. 

A  strange  woman. 


THE  BURNINGS  AT  WURZBURG. 


331 


In  the  Twenty-third  Burning,  Nine  Persons. 

David  Crolen’s  boy,  of  nine  years  old,  on  the  second  form. 
The  two  sons  of  the  prince’s  cook,  one  of  fourteen  years  the 
other  often  years,  from  the  first  school. 

Melchior  Hammelmann,  vicar  at  Hach. 

Nicodemus  Hirsch,  a  canon  in  the  new  minster. 

Christopher  Berger,  vicar  in  the  new  minster. 

An  alumnus. 

N.B.— The  bailiff  in  the  Brennerbach  court  and  an  alumnus 
were  burnt  alive. 

In  the  Twenty-fourth  Burning,  Seven  Persons. 

Two  boys  in  the  hospital. 

A  rich  cooper. 

Lorenz  Stiiber,  vicar  in  the  new  minster. 

Batz,  vicar  in  the  new  minster. 

Lorenz  Roth,  vicar  in  the  new  minster. 

A  woman  named  Rossleins  Martin. 

In  the  Twenty-fifth  Burning,  Six  Persons. 

Frederick  Basser,  vicar  in  the  cathedral. 

Stab,  vicar  at  Hach. 

Lambrecht,  canon  in  the  new  minster. 

The  wife  of  Gallus  Hansen. 

A  strange  boy. 

Schelmerei,  the  huckstress. 

In  the  Twenty -sixth  Burning,  Seven  Persons. 

David  Hans,  a  canon  in  the  new  minster. 

Weydenbusch,  a  senator. 

I  he  innkeeper’s  wife  of  the  Baumgarten. 

An  old  woman. 

The  little  daughter  of  Yalkenberger  was  privately  executed 
and  burnt  on  her  bier. 

The  little  son  of  the  town  council  bailiff. 

Herr  Wagner,  vicar  in  the  cathedral,  was  burnt  alive. 

In  the  Twenty-seventh  Burning,  Seven  Persons. 

A  butcher,  named  Lilian  Hans. 

The  keeper  of  the  bridge-gate. 

A  strange  boy. 

A  strange  woman. 


332 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


The  son  of  the  female  minstrel,  vicar  at  Hach. 

Michel  Wagner,  vicar  at  Hach. 

Knor,  vicar  at  Hach. 

In  the  Twenty-eighth  Burning,  after  Candlemas,  1629, 

Six  Persons. 

The  wife  of  Knertz  the  butcher. 

The  infant  daughter  of  Dr.  Schultz. 

A  blind  girl. 

Schwartz,  canon  at  Hach. 

Ehling,  a  vicar. 

Bernhard  Mark,  vicar  in  the  cathedral,  was  burnt  alive. 

In  the  Twenty-ninth  Burning,  Seven  Persons. 

Viertel  Beck. 

The  innkeeper  at  Klingen. 

The  bailiff  of  Mergelsheim. 

The  wife  of  Beck  at  the  Ox-tower. 

The  fat  noble  lady  ( edelfrau ). 

N.B. — A  doctor  of  divinity  at  Hack  and  a  canon  were  exe¬ 
cuted  early  at  five  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  burnt  on  their 
bier. 

A  gentleman  of  Adel,  called  Junker  Fleischbaum. 

We  are  assured  at  the  end  of  this  document  that  there  were 
many  other  burnings  beside  those  here  enumerated.  It  appears 
that,  except  in  particular  cases,  the  judges  showed  so  much 
mercy  as  to  cause  their  victims  to  be  put  to  death  by  beheading 
before  they  were  burnt. 

One  of  the  victims  on  this  occasion  excited  especial  commis¬ 
eration,  because  he  was  of  high  rank,  a  kinsman  of  the  bishop 
himself,  on  whom  he  attended  as  a  page  of  the  court,  and  be¬ 
cause  he  was  young,  handsome,  and  interesting.  The  youthful 
Ernst  von  Ehrenberg,  we  are  told,  was  remarkable  chiefly  for 
the  attention  he  paid  to  his  studies  in  the  university  of  Wurz¬ 
burg,  and  for  the  progress  which  he  made  in  them,  until  he  was 
seduced  by  his  aunt,  a  lady  of  rank  in  that  city,  who  received 
him  as  a  kinsman  into  her  family.  This  lady,  the  Jesuits  tell 
us,  was  an  abandoned  witch — perhaps  she  was  a  protestant — 
and  she  soon  taught  her  nephew  to  pursue  evil  courses,  until 
from  an  undue  familiarity  with  herself  he  proceeded  to  become 
a  familiar  of  the  devil.  For  a  while  he  had  sufficient  dissimu¬ 
lation  to  conceal  his  wickedness,  until  the  change  became  evi¬ 
dent  from  his  increasing  neglect  of  his  studies  and  his  religious 


ERNST  VON  EHRENBERG. 


333 


duties,  and  instead  of  being  as  before,  remarkable  for  his  atten¬ 
tion  to  his  books  he  now  spent  his  time  at  play  and  among  the 
ladies.  The  Jesuit  inquisitors  were  alarmed  at  his  Conduct,  and 
undertook  to  discover  the  cause.  They  found,  or  pretended  to 
find,  by  the  confessions  of  some  of  the  sorcerers  brought  to  the 
stake,  that,  through  the  seductions  of  his  aunt,  he  had  sold  him- 
sell  to  the  devil,  aad  that  he  had  attended  the  sabbaths  of  the 
witches.  The  bishop  determined  to  convert  his  kinsman,  if  pos¬ 
sible,  to  a  different  life.  On  his  profession  of  repentance  and 
promise  of  amendment,  he  was  delivered  to  the  care  of  the 
Jesuits,  that  he  might  profit  by  their  teaching,  and  they  took  him 
to  their  house,  where  they  loaded  him  with  holy  amulets,  agnus- 
deis,  relics  and  holy  water,  and  appointed  one  of  their  order  to 
attend  upon  him  both  day  and  night,  to  protect  him  against  the 
attempts  ot  the  fiend.  The  Jesuits,  however,  soon  found,  as 
they  declared,  that  no  distemper  was  so  incurable  as  sorcery. 
Whenever  he  had  the  opportunity,  he  laid  aside  the  holy  articles 
with  which  he  was  encumbered  at  night,  and  then  the  devil 
came  to  him  and  carried  him  away  to  the  witches’  meetings, 
whence  he  contrived  to  return  before  four  o’clock  in  the 
morning,  the  hour  when  his  spiritual  instructors  rose.  Once  or 
twice,  however,  perhaps  rising  earlier  than  usual,  they  found  his 
bed  empty,  and  they  discovered  from  this  and  some  other  cir¬ 
cumstances  how  he  spent  his  nights.  They  now  declared  that 
all  his  promises  ot  amendment  were  only  intended  to  deceive, 
and  that  they  entertained  no  further  hopes  of  him.  He  was  ac¬ 
cordingly  condemned  to  death,  and  the  judgment  was  held  over 
him  in  lerrorem  with  the  hope  that  he  might  still  be  induced  to 
repent.  The  conclusion  of  his  story  is  dramatically  told  by  the 
Jesuit  who  has  left  us  a  relation  of  it.  The  Jesuits  were  to  pre¬ 
pare  him  for  death.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  day  appointed 
for  his  execution — it  appears  that  he  had  not  been  made  acquaint¬ 
ed  with  his  sentence — they  went  to  him  and  told  him,  in  ambig¬ 
uous  language,  that  he  was  to  prepare  for  a  better  life  than  that 
he  had  hitherto  led,  and  then  took  him  into  the  castle.  Here  he 
recognised  with  an  innocent  joy  the  scenes  of  his  childish  gam¬ 
bols  ;  “  there,”  said  he,  “  I  played,  there  I  drank,  there  I 
danced,”  and  went  on  making  remarks  of  this  kind,  until  he 
was  conducted  into  a  room  hung  with  black,  where  a  scaffold 
was  erected.  Then  he  turned  pale,  and  for  a  few  minutes  stood 
trembling  and  speechless  ;  but  when  the  executioners  attempted 
to  lay  their  hands  upon  him,  he  raised  such  a  cry  of  distress 
that  the  judges  themselves  were  moved  by  it,  and  they  went  to 


334 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


intercede  with  the  bishop  in  his  favor.  The  prince  made  a  last 
attempt,  and  sent  a  messenger  to  offer  him  forgiveness  if  he 
would  promise  a  thorough  reformation.  But  the  messenger  re¬ 
turned  with  an  answer  that  all  was  in  vain,  for  the  devil  had  so 
hardened  the  youth,  that  he  boldly  declared  he  would  remain  as 
he  was,  that  he  had  no  need  of  repentance  or  change,  and  that 
if  he  were  not  So  already,  he  would  wish  to  become  so.  Then 
the  prince  sternly  signified  his  will  that  justice  should  take  its 
course.  They  dragged  the  youth  again  into  the  dark  chamber, 
supported  on  each  side  by  a  Jesuit,  who  urged  him  to  repentance  ; 
but  he  persisted  in  saying  that  he  needed  no  repentance,  begged 
for  his  life,  tried  to  wrest  himself  from  the  grasp  of  the  officers, 
and  gave  no  attention  to  the  exhortations  of  the  priests.  At  last 
the  executioner  seized  a  favorable  moment,  and  in  the  midst  of 
his  struggles  to  escape  struck  the  head  from  his  body  at  a  blow. 

We  will  not  multiply  our  list  of  executions  of  witches  in  Ger¬ 
many.  The  persecution  raised  by  the  Jesuits  against  the  sor¬ 
cerers  seemed  increasing  rather  than  otherwise,  when  one  of 
their  order,  a  pious  and  learned  man,  named  Frederick  Spee,  a 
native  of  Cologne,  raised  his  voice  against  this  cruelty,  by  pub¬ 
lishing,  in  the  year  1631,  a  treatise  on  the  subject,  under  the  title 
of  Cantio  Criminalis ,  in  which  he  pointed  out  the  necessity  of 
taking  with  more  caution  the  sort  of  evidence  which  it  was  usual 
to  adduce  against  offenders  of  this  class.  It  was,  as  its  author 
states  in  the  title,  “  A  book  very  necessary  at  that  time  for  the 
magistracy  throughout  Germany”  (liber  ad  magistratus  Germanics, 
hoc  tempore  necessarius),  and  it  no  doubt  had  a  great  influence  in 
putting  a  stop  to  the  wholesale  prosecutions  which  had  become 
so  prevalent. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  WITCHES  OF  SCOTLAND  UNDER  KING  JAMES  AFTER  HIS 
ACCESSION  TO  THE  ENGLISH  THRONE. 

In  the  earlier  ages  of  society,  the  practice  of  medicine,  which 
consisted  in  a  curing  of  wounds,  was  usually  intrusted  to  the 
women.  It  was  their  business  to  gather  the  best  herbs,  and  to 
know  their  several  virtues.  The  remedies  were  often  very  sim¬ 
ple,  and  required  no  great  knowledge  to  prepare  and  apply  them, 


335 


THE  WITCHES  OF  SCOTLAND. 

and  die  professed  healers,  who  themselves  believed  in  the  effi- 
cacy  of  charms  and  “  characters,”  and  imagined  that  the  proper¬ 
ties  of  different  herbs  were  given  to  them  by  the  spirits  who  pre¬ 
sided  over  woods  and  fields,  found  an  advantage  at  the  same  time 
in  clothing  their  remedies  m  adventitious  mystery.  To  what  an  ex¬ 
tent  this  was  practised  will  be  fully  understood  by  any  one  who  is 
conversant  with  the  collections  of  medicinal  receipts  in  mediaeval 
manuscripts.  After  the  Roman  civilization  had  introduced  itself 
among  the  various  branches  of  the  Teutonic  race,  and  schools 
of  medicine  were  established,  a  new  race  of  practitioners  sprang 
up,  superior  to  the  others,  by  their  learning  and  theoretic  knowl¬ 
edge  but  still  judging  it  convenient  to  create  a  popular  reverence 
for  their  art  by  clothing  it  in  a  similar  garb  of  mystery.  Thus 
medicine,  in  whatever  circumstances  it  was  found,  was  deeply 
intermixed  with  superstition.  *  J 

In  process  of  time  these  two  classes  of  medical  practitioners 
became  more  widely  separated  from  each  other,  the  scholastic 
physicians  rising  in  professional  character,  while  the  others  went 
on  degenerating  until  they  became  literally  “  old  women  doctors.” 

1  his  vulgar  medicinal  knowledge  became  at  last  united  with 
sorcery  m  the  person  of  the  witch,  as  it  had  formerly  been  uni¬ 
ted  with  the  religious  worship  of  the  people  in  the  functions  of 
the  priestess.  The  latter  received  her  knowledge  by  the  inspi¬ 
ration  of  the  gods  ;  the  former  derived  her  knowledge  of  the  vir¬ 
tues  of  herbs  by  the  gift  of  the  fairies  or  of  the  devil.  Many  of 
them  added  to  these  a  profession  of  a  far  more  horrible  charac¬ 
ter.  They  were  acquainted  with  herbs  of  which  the  properties 
were  noxious,  as  well  as  with  those  which  were  beneficial,  and 
they  acquired  at  times  an  extraordinary  skill  in  concoctino-  poi¬ 
sons  of  different  degrees  of  force,  and  which  acted  in  different 
manners  The  witches  were  the  great  poisoners  of  the  middle 
ages,  and  their  practice  was  no  doubt  far  more  extensive  than, 
even  with  what  we  have  recently  witnessed  among  our  peasantry’ 
we  can  easily  imagine. 

Nearly  all  the  Scottish  witches  of  the  first  half  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century  were  such  vulgar  practitioners  in  the  healin°-  art 
and  some  of  them  at  least  were  poisoners.  Our  materials  are 
again  furnished  almost  entirely  by  Robert  Pitcairn,  whose  collec¬ 
tion  of  early  Scottish  criminal  trials  is  one  of  the  most  curious 
works  of  the  kind  that  has  ever  been  published. 

The  first  instance  of  an  offender  of  this  class  in  the  seventeenth 
century  that  occurs  in  these  registers  is  that  of  James  Reid,  of 
Musselburgh,  who  was  brought  to  trial  as  a  “  common  sorcerer, 


336 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


charmer,  and  abuser,”  on  the  21st  of  July,  1602.  James  Reid 
professed  to  heal  all  kinds  of  diseases,  “  quhilk  craft  he  lernit 
ira  the  devill,  his  maister,  in  Bynnie  craigis  and  Corstorphiu 
craigis,  qunair  he  met  with  him  and  consultit  with  him  to  lerne 
the  said  craft;  quha  (that  is,  James  Reid)  gaif  him  thrie  pennies 
at  ane  tyme,  and  a  peice  creische  (grease)  out  of  his  bag  at  ane 
uther  tyme.”  The  devil’s  terms,  on  this  occasion,  Avere  not  very 
exorbitant.  This  first  interview  took  place  some  thirteen  years 
before  the  time  of  his  trial,  and  he  had  since  that  had  frequent 
meetings  with  the  evil  one,  Avho  appeared  sometimes  in  the  form 
of  a  man,  and  sometimes  in  that  of  a  horse.  His  grand  specific 
in  effecting  his  cures  was  water  from  a  south-running  stream. 
Among  the  crimes  enumerated  in  his  indictment  were  several 
“  cures”  performed,  to  use  the  words  of  the  record,  “  in  his  dev¬ 
ilish  manner ;”  but  the  most  serious  charge  against  him  was  a 
conspiracy  against  the  life  of  one  David  Libbertoun,  a  baker  of 
Edinburgh.  There  was  a  feud  between  this  man  and  the  family 
of  John  Crystie,  of  Crystiesoun’s  mylne,  or  mill,  arising  perhaps 
from  some  dishonest  transactions  between  them,  for  in  former 
days  the  roguery  of  bakers  and  millers  was  proverbial.  Crys- 
tie’s  daughter,  Jonet,  and  some  other  women  of  the  family  ap¬ 
plied  to  James  Reid  for  revenge,  and  he  held  a  consultation  with 
the  fiend  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  destruction  on  Libbertoun, 
his  family,  goods,  and  corn.  James’s  instructor  made  him  take 
a  piece  of  raw  flesh,  on  which  he  made  nine  nicks  or  notches, 
and  “  enchanted  the  same.”  The  flesh  was  given  to  Jonet  Crys¬ 
tie,  one  half  to  be  laid  under  the  door  of  Libbertoun’s  mill,  and 
the  other  under  the  door  of  his  stable  ;  the  object  of  the  latter 
being  to  bewitch  his  horses  and  cattle.  Satan  also  enchanted 
nine  stones,  which  were  to  be  thrown  on  David  Libbertoun’s 
lands,  to  destroy  his  corn.  They  next  made  a  “  picture”  of  wax, 
which  the  fiend  also  “  enchanted  and  this  the  women  roasted 
at  a  fire  in  Crystie’s  house,  to  effect  the  destruction  of  Libber¬ 
toun  himself.  The  latter  in  due  course  died. 

In  England  they  were  contented  with  the  cheaper  and  easier 
process  of  hanging  the  witches,  but  in  Scotland,  as  in  Germany, 
the  good  old  system  of  burning  was  still  persevered  in,  although 
they  now  generally  put  the  victims  to  death  by  strangling,  or 
some  other  means,  before  they  were  committed  to  the  flames. 
This  act  of  mercy  was  probably  occasioned  by  the  horrible  scenes 
that  burning  alive  continually  gave  rise  to.  We  learn  from  the 
minutes  of  the  Scotch  privy  council,  that,  on  the  1st  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  1608,  “  The  earl  of  Mar  declared  to  the  council  that  some 


PATRICK  LOWRIE. 


337 


women  were  taken  in  Broughton  (the  suburb  of  Edinburgh)  as 
witches,  and  being  put  to  an  assize,  and  convicted,  albeit  they 
persevered  constant  in  their  denial  to  the  end,  yet  they  were 
burnt  quick,  after  such  a  cruel  manner,  that  some  of  them  died  in 
despair,  renouncing  and  blaspheming;  and  others,  half  burnt 
broke  out  of  the  fire,  and  were  cast  quick  in  it  again,  till  they 
were  burnt  to  death.”  ^ 

James  Reid  was  wirreit,  or  strangled,  and  then  burnt. 

Ve  learn  from  these  same  registers,  that  a  man  named  Pat¬ 
rick  Lowrie  of  Halie  in  Ayrshire,  commonly  known  by  the 
name  of  Pat  the  witch,  suffered  the  same  fate  in  the  July  of  the 
yeai  1605.  This  man  had  been  in  confederacy  with  several 
women  witches,  and  on  the  Whitsunday  of  1604  they  had  held 
a  meeting  with  the  evil  one  on  the  Sandhills  in  Kyle,  near  the 
burgh  of  Irvine.  On  Hallow-Eve,  the  same  year,  they  assem¬ 
bled  again  on  Lowdon-hill,  where  a  spirit,  in  the  likeness  of  a 
woman,  who  called  herself  Helen  M‘Brune,  appeared  to  them 
and  alter  a  long  consultation,  gave  Patrick  a  hair-belt,  “  in  one* 
of  the  ends  of  which  belt  appeared  the  similitude  of  four  finders 
and  a  thumb,  not  far  different  from  the  claws  of  the  devil.”  Tliey 
afterward  visited  the  neighboring  churches  and  churchyards,  to 
dig  up  the  dead  from  their  graves,  and  dismember  them,  “  for 
the  practising  of  their  witchcraft  and  sorcery.”  This  man,  like 
the  former,  injured  some  people,  and  performed  cures  for  others  • 
he  was  charged  especially  with  curing  a  child  of  “  ane  strange 
mcureabill  disease.” 

The  practices  of  Isobel  Griersoune,  the  wife  of  a  laborer  at 
Prestonpans  named  John  Bull,  were  still  more  extraordinary 
fehe  was  tried  on  the  10th  of  March,  1607,  and  it  appeared  that 
having  conceived  a  “  cruel  hatred  and  malice”  against  one  Adam 
dark,  of  the  same  place,  she  used  during  a  year  and  a  half  “  all 
devilish  and  ungodly  means”  to  be  avenged  upon  him.  One 
night,  in  the  November  of  1606,  between  eleven  o’clock  and 
midnight,  when  the  whole  family,  consisting  of  Adam,  his  wife 
and  a  woman-servant,  were  asleep  in  their  beds,  she  entered5 
their  house  in  the  likeness  of  her  own  cat,  accompanied  with  a 
great  number  of  other  cats,  and  made  such  an  uproar  that  the 
inmates  went  nearly  mad.  Then,  to  increase  the  tumult,  the 
devil,  in  the  shape  of  a  black  man,  made  his  appearance,  and, 
in  a  fearful  manner,  seizing  the  servant  as  she  stood  in  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  the  floor,  tore  her  cap  from  her  head  and  threw  it  in  the 
fire,  and  dragged  her  up  and  down  the  house  with  so  much  vio¬ 
lence  that  she  was  obliged  to  keep  her  bed  for  six  weeks  after 

29 


333 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Such  scenes  as  this  seldom  occur  in  the  stories  of  English 
witchery.  Previous  to  this  occurrence,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1600,  the  same  Isobel  had  taken  offence  against  a  man  of 
the  same  town,  named  William  Burnet.  She  threw  a  piece  of 
raw  “  enchanted”  flesh  at  his  door,  and  he  was  immediately 
struck  with  a  dreadful  malady,  and  for  the  space  of  a  year  the 
demon  haunted  the  house  nightly,  in  the  shape  of  a  “  naked  in¬ 
fant  bairn.”  In  consequence  of  these  and  other  similar  persecu¬ 
tions,  William  Burnet  languished  three  years  and  died.  An¬ 
other  mail  refused  to  pay  her  the  sum  of  nine  shillings  and  four- 
pence,  which  he  owed  her,  and  he  was  seized  with  a  grievous 
sickness,  which  never  left  him  till  the  debt  was  discharged.  An 
alehouse-keeper  affronted  her,  and  all  his  ale  became  “  thick 
like  gutter  dirt,”  and  smelled  so  bad  that  nobody  would  touch  it. 
An  innkeeper’s  wife  gave  her  some  cause  of  offence,  and  she 
went  “  under  silence  and  cloud  of  night,”  and,  entering  the  house 
“  after  a  devilish  and  unknown  way,”  dragged  her  by  the  hair 
out  of  bed  from  the  side  of  her  husband,  and  threw  her  on  the 
floor,  “  whereby  her  spirit  failed  her,”  and  she  continued  in  a 
helpless  state  during  five  or  six  days.  On  this  occasion,  Isobel 
Griersoune  was  publicly  accused  of  being  the  cause  of  the  wo¬ 
man’s  sickness,  and  she  therefore  employed  her  neighbors  to 
bring  her  and  the  innkeeper’s  wife  to  drjnk  together,  after  which 
the  latter  recovered  ;  but  she  again  called  her  a  witch,  where¬ 
upon  Isobel,  who  appears  to  have  possessed  anything  but  a  gen¬ 
tle  temper,  flew  into  a  rage,  and  said  to  her,  “  the  fagot  of  hell 
light  on  thee,  and  hell’s  caldron  may  thou  seethe  in  !”  Her 
weakness  returned,  and  remained  with  her  till  the  time  of  Iso- 
bel’s  trial.  Isobel  Griersoune  was  burnt  on  the  Castle-hill  at 
Edinburgh.  In  the  December  of  the  same  year  a  man  was 
burnt  there  for  the  same  crime  ;  he  was  accused  of  poisoning 
people,  as  well  as  curing.  Other  similar  cases  occur  in  the  fol¬ 
lowing  years,  and  no  doubt  many  might  be  instanced  from  other 
parts  of  Scotland. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  1605,  a  woman  named  Beigis  Tod,  of 
“  Lang  Nydrie,”  was  tried  for  sorcery,  and  condemned  to  the 
stake.  It  was  stated  that  in  the  August  of  1594,  she,  with  her 
sister  and  some  others,  met  another  party  of  witches  at  “  Deane- 
lute  of  Lang  Nydrie,”  where  the  devil  appeared  to  them,  and 
reproved  Beigis  Tod  “  very  sharply”  for  her  long  tarrying.  She 
said,  “  Sir,  I  could  win  na  sooner.”  They  all  passed  together 
to  Beigis’s  house  in  Lang  Nydrie,  where,  after  they  had  drunk 
together  “  a  certain  space,”  they  took  a  cat  and  drew  it  nine 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  ERSKINES.  339 

times  through  the  “  cruik,”  or  iron  on  which  the  pot  was  hum ? 

f/er  tke  firei  an£  tIlen  Aey  went  with  all  speed  to  Seatoun 
horn,  to  the  north  of  the  gate.  Thorns  were  always  favorite 

ornm?h  SeS  f  l7tC16S  3nd  ^PU'ilS-  When  they  came  to  the 
thorn  the  devil  left  them  to  fetch  Cristiane  Tod,  a  sister  of 

eigis,  and  passed  to  Robert  Smart’s  house,  and  brought  her 

out ;  arid  as  she  was  coming  with  him,  she  took  a  great  fright 

nd  said  to  the  devil,  ‘  Sir,  what  will  you  do  with  me  V  who'an- 

and  to^h  er’  1  f  VT  f61r’  f°r  SaH  g3n?  t0  y°ur  sister  Bei§'is> 

and  to  the  rest  of  hir  cumpame  quha  ar  stayand  upon  your  cum 

“f  atf%e  tW’”  ,  Then  they  all  went  with  Satan  to  the  iron 

timpctl  &6a  Where  they  ajgain  took  a  cat>  a«d  drew  it  nine 
imes  through  the  iron  gate.  Immediately  afterward  they  went 

to  a  barn,  where  they  christened  the  cat,  and  called  her  Mar¬ 
garet.  f  ney  then  returned  to  Deanefute,  where  they  first  met 
«n<l  cast  the  cat  to  the  evil  one.  We  are  not  told  the  object  of 
these  strange  proceedings.  J 

The  year  1613  was  rendered  remarkable  in  the  annals  of 
Scottisn  sorcery  by  two  very  extraordinary  cases,  one  of  which 
belonged  to  high  life.  John  Erskine,  laird  of  Dun  in  the  coun- 

ai‘dr  grands°n  °f  the  celebrated  John  Erskine  who 
held  the  office  of  superintendent  of  Angus  and  Mearnes,  and  dis¬ 
tinguished  mmself  by  his  exertions  in  support  of  the  Reforma¬ 
tion,  had  two  sons,  David,  who  inherited  the  lordship,  and  Rob- 
F  fnd  !hree  daughters,  Helen,  Isobel,  and  Anne.  David 
skine,  the  elder  brother,  died  young,  leaving  two  bovs,  John 
nd  Alexander,  the  former  of  whom  was  acknowledged  as  the 
young  laird.  Robert  Erskine  and  his  three  sisters  seem  to  have 
been  more  attached  to  one  another  than  to  their  late  brother  •  the 
sisters  especially  seem  to  have  been  wicked  women,  and,  now 
that  only  two  children  stood  between  him  and  the  hereditary 
esta  es  of  the  family,  they  urged  their  surviving  brother  to  secure 
the  lairdship  and  property  by  one  of  those  bold  bad  actions  which 
were  so  common  in  feudal  times.  It  appears  that  a  dispute  had 
ansen  relating  to  the  wardship  of  the  children,  and  that  Robert 
Erskine  was  disappointed  at  not  getting  his  nephews  into  his 
own  ward  About  the  midsummer  of  1610,  a  meeting  between 
Robert  and  his  three  sisters  took  place  in  his  mansion  of  Loo-y 
and  it  was  resolved  that  the  children,  of  whom  one  seems  to 
have  been  on  a  visit  to  Logy  and  the  other  was  residing  with 
Ins  mother  m  Montrose,  should  be  carried  off  by  poison  which 
must  be  prepared  and  rendered  effectual  by  witchcraft.’  Two 
of  the  sisters,  who  appear  to  have  been  the  most  active  in  this 


340 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


affair,  proposed  to  one  David  Blewhouse  that  he  should  find  a 
witch  and  see  the  work  done  without  their  direct  interference, 
and  in  return  for  this  service  he  was  to  receive  five  hundred 
marks  of  silver  and  a  piece  of  land.  An  agreement  to  this  effect 
was  drawn  up,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  it  was  subsequently 
broken  off,  and  the  two  sisters,  Anne  and  Helen,  determined  to 
take  the  matter  in  hand  themselves.  They  accordingly  set  off 
together,  and  went  over  the  Cairne-mouth  toward  “  Mure-ail- 
house,”  to  a  notorious  witch  named  Janet  Irwing,  from  whom 
they  received  a  *•  great  quantity”  of  herbs,  with  particular  direc¬ 
tions  how  to  use  them.  These  they  carried  home  to  Logy,  but 
Robert  Erskine  was  not  satisfied  that  they  were  sufficiently  pow¬ 
erful  for  his  purpose,  and  paid  a  visit  in  person  to  the  witch, 
who  took  away  all  his  scruples  on  this  head.  They  now  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  make  this  poisonous  drink,  according  to  the  witch’s 
directions,  and  everything  being  ready,  Robert  Erskine  rode 
over  to  Montrose,  taking  the  boy  who  was  with  him  home  to  his 
brother  and  mother.  There  the  drink  was  secretly  adminis¬ 
tered,  and  the  victims  were  suddenly  plunged  into  dreadful  suf¬ 
ferings,  and  exhibited  every  symptom  of  being  poisoned,  till 
they  both  died,  “  and  sa  was  crewallie  and  tresonabilie  mur- 
thoret,”  to  use  the  expressive  words  of  the  record.  The  mur¬ 
derers  did  not  long  enjoy  the  result  of  their  crime  ;  how  the 
discovery  was  made  is  not  told,  but  it  seems  probable  that 
David  Blewhouse  turned  traitor.  On  the  30th  of  November, 
1613,  Robert  Erskine  was  brought  for  examination  before  the 
Scottish  privy  council,  and  though  he  denied  all  knowledge  of 
the  murder  at  first,  he  ended  by  making  a  full  confession.  The 
course  of  justice  was  quick  at  this  time,  and  he  was  beheaded 
on  the  1st  of  December  at  the  “  Mercat”  cross  in  Edinburgh. 
His  sisters  seem  to  have  possessed  stronger  nerves,  for  in  face 
of  his  confession,  and  the  evidence  of  Blewhouse  and  other  wit¬ 
nesses,  they  continued  “  obdurate  in  a  constant  denial.”  They 
were  not  brought  to  a  trial  till  the  22d  of  June,  1614,  but  the  evi¬ 
dence  against  them  was  so  conclusive,  that  they  were  at  once 
found  guilty,  and  two  of  them  were  like  their  brother  beheaded 
at  the  Mercat-cross.  The  third  obtained  a  respite  from  the  king, 
who  subsequently  changed  her  punishment  from  death  to  per¬ 
petual  banishment. 

The  other  Scottish  tragedy  of  the  year  1613  was,  in  some  re¬ 
spects,  of  a  more  romantic  character,  and  we  only  know  it  from 
a  copy  of  the  record  of  the  trial  sent  to  Sir  Walter  Scott.  Two 
brothers,  Archibald' and  John  Dein,  lived  in  the  town  of  Irvine, 


MARGARET  BARCLAY. 


341 


of  which  they  were  burgesses ;  the  first  had  married  a  woman 
named  Janet  Lyal,  while  the  wife  of  Alexander,  was  Margaret  Bar¬ 
clay.  It  appears  that  there  was  a  quarrel  between  the  two  fam¬ 
ilies,  and  John  Dem  and  his  wife  publicly  accused  Margaret  Bar¬ 
clay  of  theft.  Margaret  Barclay  raised  an  action  of  slander  be- 
ore  the  church  court,  which  was  discharged,  and  the  opponents 
directed  to  be  reconciled.  But  Margaret  did  not  possess  a  con- 
ciliating  temper,  and  she  declared  that  she  only  gave  her  hand 
in  obedience  to  the  kirk-session,  but  that  her  animosity  against 
John  Dem  and  his  spouse  was  unabated.  Soon  after  this  occur- 
rence  John  Dein’s  ship  prepared  to  sail  for  France,  and  he  took 
with  him  the  provost  of  the  burgh  of  Irvine,  Andrew  Tran,  who 
was  one  of  the  owners  of  the  vessel.  As  they  were  starting, 
Margaret  Barclay  was  heard  to  pray  that  sea  nor  salt  water  might 
never  bear  the  ship,  and  that  partans,  or  crabs,  might  eat  the 
crew  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  first  news  of  the  ship  which 
reached  Irvine  came  by  a  wandering  juggler  named  John  Stew¬ 
art  who  called  at  the  house  of  the  provost,  and  dropped  broad 
Hints  that  he  knew  by  some  mysterious  means  that  the  vessel 
was  lost,  and  that  the  provost  himself  had  perished.  After  a 
short  period  of  anxiety  in  the  provost’s  family,  all  doubt  was  re- 
moved  by  the  arrival  of  two  of  the  crew,  who  stated  that  their 
ship  had  been  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  England  near  Padstow, 
and  that  they  were  the  sole  survivors  of  all  who  were  on  board. 
People  remembered  Margaret  Barclay’s  imprecations,  and  suspi¬ 
cions  of  sorcery  were  immediately  excited  against  her  and-  John 
o  tew  art,  whose  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the  ship  seemed  so 
extraordinary. 

Margaret  Barclay  appears  to  have  been  no  favorite  in  the  town 
ot  Irvine,  and  proceedings  were  commenced  in  a  way  most  like¬ 
ly  to  turn  to  her  confusion.  The  wandering  juggler  was  first 
arrested,  arid  fear  or  torture  wrung  from  him  a  confession,  in 
which  he  cleared  himself  by  seriously  compromising  the  other 
person  suspected.  He  said  that  Margaret  Barclay,  presuming 
perhaps  on  his  character  of  a  juggler,  had  applied  to  him  to  teach 
her  some  magic  arts,  “  in  order  that  she  might  get  gear,  kyes 
milk,  love  of  man,  her  heart’s  desire  on  such  persons  as  had  done 
her  wrong,  and  finally  that  she  might  obtain  the  fruit  of  sea  and 
land.  He  replied  that  he  neither  possessed  such  arts,  nor  was 
able  to  communicate  them  to  others,  and  thus  the  matter  ended. 
But  he  said  that  subsequent  to  this,  and  shortly  after  the  ship  set 
sail,  he  came  accidentally  one  night  to  Margaret’s  house,  and 
there  he  found  her  with  two  other  women  making  clay  figures 

29*  J  ° 


342 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


one  of  which  was  made  handsome  and  with  fair  hair,  he  supposed 
to  represent  Provost  Tran.  They  proceeded  to  make  a  figure 
of  a  ship  in  clay,  and  while  they  were  thus  occupied,  the  devil 
appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  handsome  black  lap-dog.  When  the 
ship  was  made,  the  whole  party,  Satan  and  all,  left  the  house  to¬ 
gether,  and  went  into  an  empty  waste  house  near  the  seaport. 
They  afterward  proceeded  to  the  seaside,  and  cast  in  the  figures 
of  clay  representing  the  ship  and  the  men,  and  immediately  the 
sea  raged,  roared,  and  became  red  like  the  juice  of  madder  in  a 
dyer’s  caldron.  Margaret  Barclay’s  female  acquaintances  were 
next  convened,  and  when  John  Stewart  was  introduced  to  them, 
he  at  once  fixed  upon  an  old  woman  named  Insh,  as  one  of  the 
persons  engaged  in  making  the  figures.  This  woman  stoutly 
denied  all  knowledge  of  the  matter,  and  said  she  never  saw  her 
accuser  before ;  but  the  magistrates  now  brought  forward  her 
own  daughter,  a  girl  only  eight  years  old,  who  lived  in  Margaret 
Barclay’s  house  as  a  servant,  and  who  had  been  made  by  some 
means  or  other  to  declare  that  she  had  been  a  witness  to  the 
scene  described  by  the  juggler,  and  that  her  mother  was  one  of 
the  persons  engaged  in  it.  This  little  girl  improved  upon  the 
details  given  by  Stewart;  she  described  other  persons  as  being 
present,  added  a  black  man  to  the  black  dog,  and  said  that  the 
latter  breathed  flames  from  its  jaws  and  nostrils,  which  illumina¬ 
ted  the  witches  during  the  performance  of  the  spell.  She  said 
that  they  had  promised  her  a  pair  of  new  shoes  to  keep  the  se¬ 
cret,  and  that  her  mother,  Isobel  Insh,  remained  in  the  waste- 
house,  and  was  not  present  when  the  images  were  thrown  into 
the  sea. 

John  Stewart  now  underwent  a  new  examination,  and  added 
to  his  own  story  so  as  to  make  it  agree  with  that  of  the  child. 
When  asked  how  he  gained  the  knowledge  of  things  to  come, 
he  told  a  strange  story  of  his  adventures  with  the  fairies  ;  it  was 
probably  a  tale  he  had  been  accustomed  to  recount  among  the 
people  where  he  visited  in  the  exercise  of  his  craft  to  give  him¬ 
self  importance  in  their  eyes,  and  which  he  now  half-uncon- 
sciously  repeated  before  his  judges.  He  stated  that  about  twen¬ 
ty-six  years  before,  as  he  was  travelling  on  the  night  of  All-hal¬ 
low’s  eve,  between  the  towns  of  “  Monygoif”  and  “  Clary,”  in 
the  county  of  Galway  (in  Ireland),  he  met  with  the  king  of  the 
fairies  and  his  company, and  the  king  struck  him  over  the  forehead 
with  a  white  rod,  which  deprived  him  of  the  power  of  speech  and 
the  use  of  one  eye.  After  remaining  in  this  condition  during 
three  years,  his  speech  and  eyesight  were  restored  to  him  by 


MARGARET  BARCLAY. 


343 


the  king  of  the  fairies  and  his  company,  whom  he  a^ain  met  on 
a  Hallowe’en  night  near  Dublin,  since  which  time  he  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  joining  these  people  every  Saturday  at  seven 
o’clock  m  the  evening,  and  remaining  with  them  all  that  night. 
Ihey  likewise  met  every  Hallowtide,  sometimes  on  Lanark 
hill,  or,  as  Scott  supposes,  Tintock,  and  sometimes  on  Kilmaurs 
hill  when  he  was  taught  by  them.  Stewart  pointed  out  the  spot 
on  his  forehead  where  the  king  of  the  fairies  struck  him  with  a 
white  rod,  whereupon,  after  he  had  been  blindfolded  by  order  of 
the  magistrates  and  ministers  Avho  were  directing  the  examina¬ 
tion,  they  pricked  the  spot  with  a  large  pin,  of  which  he  appeared 
to  be  quite  insensible.  He  repeated  the  names  of  many  persons 
whom  he  had  seen  at  the  court  of  faerie,  and  declared  that  all 
persons  who  were  taken  away  by  sudden  death  went  thither. 

After  these  confessions,  Isobel  Insh  was  more  hardly  pressed 
to  “  tell  the  truth,”  and  at  length  she  confessed  that  she  was  pres¬ 
ent  at  the  making  and  drowning  of  the  clay  images,  but  declared 
that  she  took  no  part  in  the  proceedings.  She  was  at  this  mo¬ 
ment  in  such  a  state  of  mind,  that  she  evidently  knew  not  what 
she  was  doing,  and  she  supplicated  her  jailer,  Bailie  Dunlop,  to 
let  her  go,  promising  him,  for  he  also  was  a. mariner,  that  if  he 
did  so,  he  should  never  make  a  bad  voyage,  but  have  success  in 
all  his  dealings  by  sea  and  land,  a  promise  that  was  easily  con¬ 
strued  into  an  acknowledgment  that  she  possessed  the  powers 
attributed  to  her.  Before  she  was  conducted  back  to  her  prison 
m  the  belfry,  she  was  made  to  promise  that  she  would  fully  con¬ 
fess  next  day,  but  in  the  night  she  made  a  desperate  attempt  at 
escape  Although  secured  with  iron  bolts,  locks,  and  fetters,  she 
succeeded  in  getting  out  at  a  back  window,  and  reached  the  roof 
of  the  church,  for  here  she  lost  her  footing  and  fell  to  the  ground. 
She  was  so  much  hurt  and  bruised,  that  she  survived  but  five 
days,  during  which  time  she  resolutely  persisted  in  asserting  her 
innocence,  and  denied  all  that  she  had  before  admitted.  In*spite 
of  the  evident  causes  of  her  death,  the  inhabitants  of  Irvine  at¬ 
tributed  it  to  poison. 

A  commission  was  now  granted  for  the  trial  of  John  Stewart 
and  Margaret  Barclay,  and  when  the  appointed  day  arrived, 
M}'  l°ld  and  earl  of  Eglintourie  (wjio  dwells  within  the  space 
of  one  mile  to  the  said  burgh)  having  come  to  the  said  burgh  at 
the  earnest  request  of  the  said  justices,  for  giving  to  them  of  his 
lordship’s  countenance,  concurrence,  and  assistance,  in  trying 
of  the  foresa.id  devilish  practices,  conformable  to  the  tenor  of  the 
foresaid  commission,  the  said  John  Stewart,  for  his  better  pre- 


344 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


serving  to  the  day  of  assize,  was  put  in  a  sure  lock-fast  booth, 
where  no  manner  of  person  might  have  access  to  him  till  the 
down-sitting  of  the  justice-court ;  and  for  avoiding  of  putting 
hands  on  himself,  he  was  very  strictly  guarded,  and  fettered  by 
the  arms,  as  use  is.  And  upon  that  same  day  of  the  assize,  about 
half  an  hour  before  the  down-sitting  of  the  justice-court,  Mr. 
David  Dickson,  minister  at  Irvine,  and  Mr.  George  Dunbar,  min¬ 
ister  of  Ayr,  having  gone  to  him  to  exhort  him  to  call  on  his 
God  for  mercy  for  his  bygone  wicked  and  evil  life,  and  that  God 
would  of  his  infinite  mercy  loose  him  out  of  the  bonds  of  the 
devil,  whom  he  had  served  these  many  years  bygone,  he  acqui¬ 
esced  in  their  prayer  and  godly  exhortation,  and  uttered  these 
words,  ‘  I  am  so  straitly  guarded,  that  it  lies  not  in  my  power  to 
get  my  hand  to  take  off  my  bonnet,  nor  to  get  bread  to  my  mouth.’ 
And  immediately  after  the  departure  of  the  two  ministers  from 
him,  the  juggler  being  sent  for,  at  the  desire  of  my  lord  of  Eg- 
lintoune,  to  be  confronted  with  a  woman  of  the  burgh  of  Ayr, 
called  Janet  Bous,  who  was  apprehended  by  the  magistrates  of 
the  burgh  of  Ayr  for  witchcraft,  and  sent  to  the  burgh  of  Irvine 
purposely  for  that  affair,  he  was  found,  by  the  burgh  officers  who 
went  about  him,  strangled  and  hanged  by  the  cruik  of  the  door, 
with  a  tait,  or  string,  of  hemp,  supposed  to  have  been  his  garter 
or  string  of  his  bonnet,  not  above  the  length  of  two  span  long, 
his  knees  not  being  from  the  ground  half  a  span,  and  was  brought 
out  of  the  house,  his  life  not  being  totally  expelled.  But  not¬ 
withstanding  of  whatsoever  means  used  in  the  contrary  for  rem- 
eid  of  his  life,  he  revived  not,  but  so  ended  his  life  miserably,  by 
the  help  of  the  devil  his  master.” 

Margaret  Barclay  was  the  only  one  who  now  remained  for 
trial,  and  it  was  determined  to  proceed  with  her  at  once,  lest  she 
should  follow  the  example  of  the  others.  “  Therefore,  and  for 
eschewing  of  the  like  in  the  person  of  the  said  Margaret,  our 
sovereign  lord’s  justice  in  that  part,  constituted  by  commission, 
after  solemn  deliberation  and  advice  of  the  said  noble  lord,  whose 
concurrence  and  advice  was  chiefly  required  and  taken  in  this 
matter,  concluded  with  all  possible  diligence,  before  the  down¬ 
sitting  of  the  justice  court,  to  put  the  said  Margaret  to  torture  ; 
in  respect  the  devil,  by  God’s  permission,  had  made  her  asso¬ 
ciates,  who  were  the  lights  of  the  cause,  to  be  their  own  ‘  bur- 
rioes’  [executioners].  They  used  the  torture  underwritten  as 
being  most  safe  and  gentle  (as  the  said  noble  lord  assured  the 
said  justices),  by  putting  of  her  two  bare  legs  in  a  pair  of  stocks, 
and  thereafter  by  on-laying  of  certain  iron  gauds  [bars]  severally 


345 


THE  STORY  OF  MARGARET  BARCLAY. 

one  by  one,  and  then  eking  and  augmenting  the  weight  by  layino- 
on  more  gauds,  and  in  easing  of  her  by  off-taking  of  the  iron 
gauds  one  or  more  as  occasion  offered,  which  iron  gauds  were 
but  little  short  gauds,  and  broke  not  the  skin  of  her  legs.  After 
using  of  the  which  kind  of  gentle  torture,  the  said  Margaret  be¬ 
gan,  according  to  the  increase  of  the  pain,  to  cry  and  crave  for 
God’s  cause  to  take  off  her  shins  the  foresaid  irons,  and  she 
would  declare  truly  the  whole  matter.  Which  beino-  removed 
she  began  at  her  former  denial ;  and  being  of  new  arrayed  in  tor¬ 
ture  as  of  before,  she  then  uttered  these  words  :  ‘  Take  off!  take 
oil  !  and  before  God  I  shall  show  you  the  whole  form  !’  And  the 
said  irons  being  of  new,  upon  her  faithful  promise,  removed  she 
then  desired  my  lord  of  Eglintoune,  the  said  four  justices,  and 
the  said  Mr.  David  Dickson,  minister  at  the  burgh,  Mr  George 
Dunbar,  minister  of  Ayr,  and  Mr.  Mitchell  Wallace,  minister  of 
Kilmarnock,  Mr.  John  Cunninghame,  minister  of  Dairy,  and 
Hugh  Kennedy,  provost  of  Ayr,  to  come  by  themselves,  and  to 
remove  all  others,  and  she  should  declare  truly  as  she  should 
answer  to  God  the  whole  matter.  Whose  desire  in  that  beino- 
fulfilled,  without  any  kind  of  demand,  freely,  without  interroga- 
tion,  God’s  name  by  earnest  prayer  being  called  upon  for  open¬ 
ing  of  her  lips,  and  easing  of  her  heart,  that  she,  by  rendering  of 
t  le  truth,  might  glorify  and  magnify  his  holy  name,  and  disappoint 
the  enemy  of  her  salvation.” 

Margaret  Barclay’s  confession  was  a  mere  acknowledgment 
of  the  truth  of  what  had  been  said  by  the  others,  but  she  declared 
that  her  purpose  was  to  lull  none  but  her  brother-in-law  and  Pro¬ 
vost  Tran.  To  make  up  the  number  of  persons  pretended  to 
have  been  present  at  the  making  of  the  images,  she  introduced 
t.ie  name  of  another  woman  of  Irvine,  Isobel  Crawford;  who 
was  thereupon  arrested,  and  in  great  terror  confessed  it  all.  But 
when  they  proceeded  with  the  trial,  Alexander  Dein,  the  husband 
of  Margaret  Barclay,  appeared  in  court  with  a  lawyer  to  act  in 
her  defence,  and  she  was  asked  by  the  lawyer  if  she  wished  to 
be  defended,  to  which  she  made  answer :  “  As  you  please  ;  but 
a  l  l  have  confessed  was  in  agony  of  torture,  and,  before  God,  all 
1  have  spoken  is  false  and  untrue  adding  pathetically,  “  Ye 
have  been  too  long  in  coming.”  The  jury  were  unmoved'by  this 
appeal ;  it  was  considered  that,  as  the  iron  bars  were  off  her  legs 
at  tie  moment  of  her  making  the  confession,  it  could  not  be  satd 
tu  be  made  under  compulsion,  and  she  was  unanimously  found 
guilty.  After  her  sentence  was  passed,  she  returned  to  her  con¬ 
fession,  influenced  perhaps  by  the  hopet  in  some  way  or  other  of 


346 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


better  treatment.  She  was  strangled  at  the  stake,  and  then  burnt 
to  ashes. 

Before  her  death,  Margaret  Barclay  had  entreated  earnestly 
for  Isobel  Crawford,  the  woman  implicated  in  her  confession, 
that  no  injury  should  be  done  to  her,  but  in  vain.  A  new  com¬ 
mission  was  obtained  for  her  trial,  and,  as  she  was  now  obstinate 
in  her  denial,  the  same  torture  was  applied  to  her,  and  with  the 
same  effect.  She  made  a  new  confession,  acknowledged  every¬ 
thing  that  was  imputed  to  her,  and  avowed  that  she  had  lived  in 
intercourse  with  the  evil  one  for  several  years.  But  when  her 
sentence  was  passed,  she  again  denied  all  that  she  had  confessed, 
and  persisted  in  her  denial  to  the  last. 

It  appears  to  have  been  a  mere  quarrel  among  the  wives  of 
the  burghers  of  Irvine  which  led  to  this  tragical  conclusion.  The 
singularly  detailed  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial,  which 
was  published  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  furnishes  a  most  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  they  were  conducted.  We 
now  return  to  the  registers  published  by  Mr.  Pitcairn  for  a  few 
examples  illustrative  of  the  character  of  the  Scottish  witches  of 
this  period.  They  show  us  not  only  how  generally  these  “  weird” 
women  were  employed  to  cure  diseases,  but  the  particular  char¬ 
acter  of  their  remedies. 

Margaret  Wallace,  the  wife  of  a  burgess  of  Glasgow,  was  tried 
for  sorcery  on  the  20th  of  March,  1622.  The  particular  crime 
for  which  she  was  brought  into  court  was  the  bewitching  of  a 
burgess  of  the  same  town  named  Cuthbert  Greg,  a  cooper,  who 
had  excited  her  “  deadly  hatred”  by  publicly  calling  her  a  witch. 
It  was  deposed  that  she  had  been  heard  to  threaten  that  she 
would  make  him  within  a  few  days  unable  to  earn  a  cake  of 
bread  by  his  work.  Shortly  after  this,  he  fell  into  sickness  and 
extreme  debility.  His  friends  were  convinced  that  Margaret 
Wallace  was  the  cause  of  this  visitation,  and  they  went  to  her  to 
beg  her  to  restore  him  to  his  health.  After  many  “  malicious  re¬ 
fusals,”  she  yielded  to  their  request,  and  went  with  them  to  his 
house,  where  she  “took  him  by  the  shakel  [wrist-bone]  with 
one  hand,  and  laid  the  other  hand  upon  his  breast,  and  without 
one  word  speaking,  save  only  by  moving  of  her  lips,  passed  from 
him  at  that  instant ;  and  upon  the  morn  thereafter,  returning  back 
again  to  the  said  Cuthbert,  she  took  him  by  the  arm  and  bade 
him  arise,  who  at  that  time  and  fifteen  days  before  was  not  able 
to  lift  his  legs  without  help  ;  yet  she,  having  urged  him  to  rise, 
and  taking  him  by  the  hand,  as  said  is,  brought  him  out  of  his 
bed,  and  thereafter  led  him  about  the  house ;  who  immediately 


MARGARET  WALLACE. 


347 


^  g“r:^klyrecOTered  “d 

Margaret  Wallace  had  formerly  been  intimate  with  a  woman 
of  Glasgow  named  Cristiane  Grahame,  who  was  burnt  tW 

fntbt  b  I'?  ?  "  n°t0ri0US  Wltcb>  ™d  they  seem  to  have  been 

the  child  of  nf  MfTlng  -\e  another-  0n  one  occasion,  when 
the  child  of  one  of  her  neighbors  was  taken  ill,  she  recommended 

protested  “'crfstfane  r?r’iai,d’  011  »  ^.cdoi  bcmg  “he 
I  tested  Cristiane  Grahame  could  do  as  mickle  in  that  errand 

hizTL:  :hat  tease-  t  if  God  hi™M  “cZa  :r„? 

she  could  take'h  off1  ’  ^  alb?U  tb,e  death_str°ke  were  laid  on, 
sne  could  take  it  oft  again  ;  and  without  her  help  there  could  iJ 

no  remedy  to  the  bairn.”  She  further  showed  her  confidence  in 

he  healing  powers  of  this  woman  by  sending  for  her  when  she 

as  m  want  herself.  A  woman  made  the  following  deposition  • 

L  WalT6d  ^at  a  man  named  Robert  Stewart  went  with  Marga- 

iaiy  where  ?h,asndlm‘  G'aSg°W  kel>‘  ^  Alexander  Val 

here“  called  fo  »  r'lent  "T  ,servant-  «>d,  as  she  said,  they 
mere  called  for  a  choppine  of  ale,  which  was  brought  by  a  bov 

v*en’  "arf„d  Jamesl  Symsone  ;  and  in  drinking  thereof  bl- 

w°i,er  Stewart  his  taking  the  cup  and  ofterino-  it  to  Mar 

garet  Wallace,  the  said  Margaret  took  a  sudden  ‘  brasche’of  sick- 

ness,  unknown  to  the  deponent  what  sickness  it  was,  wherein 

S  rj Te  h“serifaretTWah  S°  eX‘TeIy  ha,ldled  that  she  was  likely 
my  dear  bird  !”  M  “  cf0"tuIslons  she  cried,  Bring  me  hither 
y  ear  bird  .  Margaret  Montgomerie,  the  “  good-wife”  of  the 

louse,  who  was  present,  and  who  imagined  that  she  was  calling 
for  her  husband,  said,  “  What  dear  btrd  would  you  W  I  b  e? 

“  bmmme  £1“  h0r’r“  Na”  answered  Margaret  Wallace, 
ng  me  Cristiane  Grahame,  my  dear  bird  “  All  this  while 

“S  M°rlg0‘mrle  TaS  ,h0ldi"g  her  by  the  one  hand,  and 
Cristiane  M  Clauchlane  by  the  other.  Thereafter,  at  her  desire 

Robert  Stewart  past,  and  with  great  diligence  brought  Cristiane 
Grahame  to  her,  at  whose  sudden  coming  Margaret  Montgom¬ 
erie  said.  to  Robert  Stewart :  ‘  Jesus  save  us  !  I  believe  thou  hast 
met  her  by  the  way  !’  And  Cristiane  Grahame  answered  :  ‘  Faith 
he  met  me  not,  but  came  and  brought  me  out  of  my  own  chain-’ 

Cm  a  1  hiGard  ,that  ,ny  bird  was  sa  diseased,  I  sped  me 
W  dhrP  f&7t]  hereafter,  that  Cristiane  Grahame  took  Margaret 
Wallace  by  the  shakel-bone,  and  kist  her;  and  in  her  arms 
carried  her  down  the  stairs,  saying  to  her,  nothing  should  ail 


348 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


her.”  Another  witness,  a  “  chirurgeon,”  named  Andro  Mure,  who 
deposed  relating  to  the  cure  of  one  Margaret  Mure,  reveals  a  little 
glimpse  of  Scottish  character.  This  man  said  :  “  He  knows 
nothing  of  Margaret  Mure’s  sickness,  except  that  he  himself 
coming  down  the  bridge-gate,  he  saw  Cristiane  Grahame  come 
forth  of  Marioun  Mure’s  house  ;  who  thereafter  came  to  the  de¬ 
ponent,  and  desired  him  to  gang  in  to  the  said  Marioun  ;  and 
the  deponent,  at  her  desire,  having  passed  into  the  house,  at  his 
incoming  a  roasted  hen  was  set  down  on  the  board ;  and  the  de¬ 
ponent,  with  David  Scheirar  and  the  said  Marioun  Mure,  sat 
down  at  the  board  together;  and  within  a  short  space  thereafter, 
Margaret  Wallace  came  in  to  them  ;  declares,  at  Margaret  Wal¬ 
lace’s  incoming,  a  goose  was  set  down  on  the  board  ;  and  the  de¬ 
ponent,  perceiving  that  such  entertainment  would  draw  him  to 
charges,  he  paid  his  choppine  of  wine  and  came  his  way,  and 
left  the  rest  of  the  company  behind  him  ;  and  further  he  knows 
not.” 

Some  pains  seem  to  have  been  taken  in  this  woman’s  defence, 
and  the  worst  accusation  against  her  appears  to  have  been  her 
acquaintance  with  Cristiane  Grahame  ;  but  the  jury  brought  her 
in  guilty,  and  she  was  strangled  and  burnt. 

In  the  May  of  1623,  a  woman  named  Isobel  Haldane  made  a 
“  voluntary”  confession  at  the  sessions  at  Perth,  in  which  she 
described  the  manner  in  which  she  cured  diseases,  chiefly  by 
the  use  of  crosses  and  charms  such  as  those  found  in  the  old 
medical  manuscripts.  Being  asked  if  she  had  any  conversation 
with  the  fairy  folk,  she  said  that  ten  years  before,  while  she  was 
lying  in  her  bed,  she  was  taken  forth  she  knew  not  how,  and 
was  carried  to  a  hill-side,  which  opened,  and  she  went  in  and 
remained  there  three  days,  from  Thursday  to  Sunday  at  noon. 
She  met  a  man  with  a  gray  beard,  who  brought  her  forth  again. 
This  man  with  the  gray  beard,  resembling  the  Thome  Reid  of 
a  former  story,  was  the  person  from  whom  she  received  her 
knowledge  of  hidden  things,  and  who  imparted  to  her  the  art  by 
which  she  worked  her  cures.  She  often  delivered  people  from 
the  witchcraft  of  others.  One  Patrick  Ruthven  acknowledged 
that  he  had  been  bewitched,  and  that  Isobel  had  cured  him. 
“  She  came  into  the  bed,  and  stretched  herself  above  him,  her 
head  to  his  head,  her  hands  over  him,  and  so  forth,  mumbling 
some  words,  he  knew  not  what  they  were.”  Isobel  seems  to 
have  been  famous  for  curing  “  bairns.”  She  confessed  that,  for 
this  purpose,  she  made  three  several  cakes,  every  one  of  them 
of  nine  handfuls  of  meal  obtained  from  nine  women  that  were 


DEATH  OF  THOMAS  GREAVE. 


349 


married  maidens,  and  that  she  made  a  hole  in  the  crown  of 
every  one  of  them,  and  put  a  bairn  through  it  three  times,  in  the 
name  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.” 

A  man  named  Thomas  Greave  was  burnt  at  the  beginning  of 
August,  1623.  He  was  accused  of  causing  sickness  in  some 
people,  and  curing  it  in  others.  His  cures  were  performed  with 
crosses  and  signs,  and  by  washing  the  patient’s  sark,  or  shirt 
in  the  water  of  a  south-running  stream,  or  with  water  from  the5 
holy  well.  He  sometimes  passed  his  patients  through  a  hasp 
of  yarn.  He  took  one  woman’s  sickness  from  her,  and  put  it  on 
a  cow.  “  Item,  about  Martinmas,  1621,  Elspeth  Thomesone, 
sister  to  John  Thomesone,  portioner  of  Petwar,  being  visited 
with  a  grievous  sickness,  the  said  Thomas  came  to  her  house  in 
Gorachie,  where,  after  sighing  and  ‘  gripping’  of  her,  he  prom¬ 
ised  to  cure  her  thereof ;  and  for  this  effect  called  for  her  sark 
and  desired  two  of  her  ‘  nearest  friends’  to  go  with  him,  like  as 
John  and  William  Thomesone,  her  brothers,  being  sent  for,  past 
with  the  said  Thomas  in  the  night  season,  from  Corachie  toward 
m ley,  by  the  space  of  twelve  miles,  and  enjoyned  the  two 
brothers  not  to  speak  a  Avord  all  the  way ;  and  whatever  they 
heard  or  saw,  no  ways  to  be  afraid,  saying  to  them,  it  might  be 
that  they  would  hear  great  rumbling,  and  such  uncouth  and  fear¬ 
ful  apparitions,  but  nothing  should  annoy  them.  And  at  the 
ford  by  East  Burley,  in  a  south-running  water,  he  there  washed 
the  sark  ;  during  the  time  of  the  which  washing  of  the  sark 
there  was  a  great  noise  made  by  fowls,  or  the  ‘  lyll  beasts,’  that 
aiose  and  flittered  in  the  water.  And  coming  home  with  the 
sark,  put  the  same  upon  her,  and  cured  her  of  her  sickness.” 

As  I  have  before  intimated,  there  may  be  some  affinity  be¬ 
tween  this  process  and  the  modern  cure  by  wet  sheets  ;  in  the 
instance  of  Thomas  Greave  the  cold-water  cure  was  punished 
with  death.  1 


30 


350 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XXYIII. 

CONFESSIONS  OF  ISOBEL  GOWDIE. 

The  extraordinary  cases  related  in  the  last  chapter  give  us 
but  a  faint  notion  of  the  immense  number  of  prosecutions  for  the 
crime  of  sorcery  which  occurred  in  Scotland  during  the  first 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  cases  which  came  before 
the  high  court  of  justiciary  were  few  indeed  when  compared  with 
those  which  were  disposed  of  no  less  summarily  in  the  multi¬ 
tude  of  inferior  courts  throughout  that  kingdom.  The  super¬ 
stitious  feelings  of  the  Scottish  clergy  assisted  the  popular  ima¬ 
gination,  and  it  is  not  surprising  if  the  persecution  against  this 
miserable  class  of  people  was  increased,  rather  than  otherwise, 
'  when  the  presbyterians  were  in  power.  Matthew  Hopkins  had 
his  reflection  in  a  number  of  Scottish  witch-finders,  or,  as  they 
were  called,  prickers,  who  gained  their  living  by  going  from 
town  to  town  to  search  suspected  women  or  men  for  their  marks, 
and  we  have  even  seen  that  on  the  eve  of  the  Restoration  they 
were  sent  for  from  Scotland  to  assist  in  witch  prosecutions  in 
the  north  of  England.  At  this  period,  and  in  the  years  immedi¬ 
ately  following  the  accession  of  Charles  II.,  the  mania  seems  to 
have  suddenly  extended  itself  in  Scotland,  and  the  year  1661 
was  especially  remarkable  for  the  number  of  trials  it  witnessed. 
We  are  informed  that  on  the  7th  of  November,  in  the  year  just 
mentioned,  at  one  session  of  the  superior  court,  no  less  than 
fourteen  commissions  were  issued  for  trying  witches  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  A  case  which  occurred  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  following,  is  deserving  of  particular  notice  for  its  pecu¬ 
liarities. 

The  district  about  the  village  of  Auldearn,  on  the  coast  of  the 
little  county  of  Nairn,  contained  at  this  time  so  many  witches,  that 
Satan  was  obliged  for  convenience  to  divide  them  into  companies 
named  covines,  each  covine  consisting  of  thirteen  persons.  This 
number  was  anciently  called  the  devil’s  dozen,  from  which  we 
understand  why  still,  wherever  the  popular  superstitions  leave 
their  traces,  it  is  looked  upon  as  an  unlucky  number  for  a  party 
at  table,  but  another  more  useful  individual  has  since  taken  the 
place  of  the  evil  one  in  the  name  applied  to  it.  To  one  of  these 


THE  WITCHES  OF  AULDEARN. 


351 


em  ines,  which  seems  to  have  belonged  especially  to  the  village 
of  Auldearn,  belonged  a  woman  of  that  place  named  Isobel  Gow¬ 
die  who  during  the  months  of  April  and  May,  in  the  year  1662 
made,  without  compulsion  of  any  kind  (as  it  is  said  in  the  docu¬ 
ment),  before  the  clergy  and  magistrates  of  the  district,  four  sev¬ 
eral  confessions,  all  agreeing  together,  though  some  of  them 
were  rather  fuller  in  detail  than  others. 

Isobel  Gowdie  said  that  once  as  she  was  going  between  the 
farms  of  Drumdevin  and  the  Heads,  she  was  accosted  by  Satan 
who  made  her  promise  to  meet  him  at  night.  For  some  reason 
or  other,  in  Scotland  Satan  preferred  churches  for  the  place  of 
meeting  of  the  witches,  and  on  this  occasion  the  rendezvous 
was  to  be  in  the  kirk  of  Auldearn.  Thither  Isobel  went  on  the 
night  appointed,  and  she  found  a  number  of  individuals  who 
were  well  known  to  her  in  the  kirk  ;  the  evil  one  stood  in  the 
leader  s  desk,  and  held  a  black  book  in  his  hand.  After  beino- 
duly  introduced  to  the  company,  the  new  convert  was  made  to 
deny  her  baptism,  and  then,  placing  one  hand  on  the  crown  of 
her  head  and  the  other  under  the  sole  of  her  foot,  she  oave 
everything  between  them  to  the  fiend.  Margaret  Brodie?  of 
Auldearn,  acted  as  her  fostermother,  and  held  her  up  to  the  devil 
to  be  baptized.  He  marked  her  on  the  shoulder,  and  sucked  the 
blood,  which  “  spouted”  into  his  hand,  and  with  this  he  sprinkled 
her  on  the  head,  rebaptizing  her  in  his  own  name  by  the  nickname 
of  Janet.  After  this  ceremony,  the  whole  party  separated, 
fehortly  afterward  the  devil  met  Isobel  again,  alone,  at  the 
■  New  Wards’  of  Inshoch,  an#  there  the  bond  between  them 
was  completed.  She  described  her  new  lord  as  a  “  mickle 
black,  rough  man,”  with  forked  and  cloven  feet,  which  he  some¬ 
times  concealed  by  wearing  boots  or  shoes.  Sometimes  he  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  shape  of  a  deer,  or  roe,  or  other  animal. 

To  each  covine  was  one  female  of  more  consideration  than 
the  others,  Satan’s  favorite,  who  was  chosen  as  the  best  lookirm 
of  the  younger  witches,  and  she  was  called  the  maiden  of  the 
covme;  and  there  was  a  man,  who  was  their  officer.  The 
witches  had  only  power  to  do  injuries  of  an  inferior  kind  when 
the  maiden  was  not  with  them.  They  met  from  time  to  time  to 
dance  at  places  which  seem  to  have  been  under  fairy  influence 
such  as  the  hill  of  Earlseat.,  the  mickle  burn,  and  the  Downie* 
hills,  generally  one  or  two  covines  at  a  time,  where  they  danced  • 
but  they  had  larger  general  meetings  toward  the  end  of  each 
quarter  of  a  year.  Jane  Martin,  a  young  lass  of  Auldearn,  was 
tne  maiden  of  the  covine  to  which  Isobel  Gowdie  belonged.  We 


352 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


have  seen  that  in  her  intercourse  with  the  evil  one,  each  witch 
was  known  by  a  new  name.  Thus  Jane  Martin  was  named 
“  Over-the-dyke-with-it,”  because  she  used  to  sing  these  words 
when  she  was  dkncing  with  the  devil.  Her  mother,  Isobel  Nic- 
oll,  went  by  the  name  of  Bessie  Rule  ;  Margaret  Wilson  was 
named  Pickle-nearest-the-wind ;  Bessie  Wilson’s  name  was 
Through-the-corn-yard  ;  ElspetNishie  was  named  Bessie  Bauld  ; 
and  Bessie  Hay  rejoiced  in  the  name  of  Able-and-stout.  Their 
familiar  spirits,  who  were  distinguished  by  the  color  of  their 
liveries,  had  names  equally  singular.  Isobel  Gowdie’s  own  fa¬ 
miliar  was  called  Saunders-the-red-reaver,  and  was  clothed  in 
black  ;  one  of  them  had  a  spirit  called  Thomas-a-fairie  ;  Mar¬ 
garet  Wilson’s  spirit  had  a  grass-green  dress,  and  was  called 
Swein  ;  Bessie  Wilson’s  spirit  was  Rorie,  dressed  in  yellow  ; 
that  of  Isobel  Nicoll  was  Roaring-lion,  and  his  color  sea-green  ; 
that  of  Margaret  Brodie  was  called  Robert-the-rule,  and  dressed 
in  a  sad  dress  ;  Bessie  Wilson’s  familiar  had  the  strange  name 
of  Thief-of-hell-wait-upon-her  ;  Elspet  Nishie’s  was  Hendrie 
Laing  ;  the  familiar  of  Bessie  Hay  (old  Able-and-stout)  was 
named  Robert-the-Jakis,  and  was  always  “  clothed  in  dun,  and 
seems  aged  ;  he  is  ane  glaiked  gowked  spirit.”  Jane  Martin, 
the  maiden  of  the  covine,  had  a  spirit  named  M'Hector,  who 
was  a  “young-like”  devil,  and  his  color  grass-green.  These 
spirits  were  much  smaller  than  the  devil  who  presided  at  their 
meetings. 

Isobel  said  that  they  sometimes  went  into  the  Downie  hills, 
where  they  found  a  fair  and  la%e  “  brawe”  room,  where  it  was 
daylight.  There  she  got  meat  from  the  queen  of  faerie  more 
than  she  could  eat.  The  queen  was  “brawlie”  clothed  in  white 
linen,  and  in  white  and  brown  clothes.  The  king  of  faerie  was 
a  “  brawe”  man,  well-favored,  and  broad-faced.  “  There,”  says 
Isobel,  “  was  elf-bulls  rowtting  and  skoylling  up  and  down,  and 
affrighted  me.”  She  alluded  repeatedly  to  the  fear  which  she 
always  felt  on  seeing  these  elf-bulls.  In  the  caverns  of  the 
Downie  hills,  Isobel  Gowdie  saw  the  “  elf-boys”  making  the 
elf-arrowheads.  These  elf-boys  were  “  little  ones,  hollow  and 
boss-backed  [hump-backed] ;  they  spoke  gowstie-like.”  The 
devil  shaped  the  arrow-heads  with  his  own  hand,  and  gave 
them  to  the  elf-boys,  who  sharpened  and  “  dighted”  them  with  a 
sharp  thing  like  a  packing-needle.  When  they  were  finished, 
the  devil  delivered  them  to  the  witches,  saying  : — 

Shoot  these  in  my  name, 

And  they  shall  not  go  heal  hame  (whole  home). 


SABBATH  QUARRELS. 


353 


And  when- the  witch  shot  at  anybody  with  them,  she  said 

I  shoot  yon  man  in  the  devil’s  name, 

He  shall  not  win  heal  hame! 

And  this  shall  be  all  so  true,  ' 

1  here  slla11  not  be  one  hit  of  him  on  liew  (alive)  ! 

When  they  shot  the  arrow-heads  at  their  victims,  they  «  spanv” 

lutZ'h"  ,  “Tb?  ;  somelimes  the7  missed  them  ob- 
ject,  but  if  they  touched  they  carried  certain  death,  even  if  the 
victim  were  cased  in  armor.  1  tfte 

1  he  account  of  what  passed  at  the  sabbaths  of  these  Scottish 

passedSo'verer  ThI'Pe  ‘bfi”"'?  the  ‘ittIe  is  ,oId  wil1  be  better 

passed  over.  The  arch-fiend  seems  to  have  taken  great  delight 

m  H  ating  ns  subjects  cruelly  with  ropes  and  thongs  and  he  re- 

sefves  ”bsavsyTanbyiap  °f  1disresPect’  “  Sometimes  among  our¬ 
selves,  says  Isobel  Gowdie,  “  we  would  be  calling  him  Black 

John  or  the  like,  and  he  would  ken  it,  and  hear  us  well  enough  • 

and  he  even  then  come  to  us  and  say,  ‘  I  ken  wele  eneugh  what 

very  soreS»yi,Thel  ^  f  ^  ^  h,  W°uld  beat  and  b°ufret  us 

•  •  e'  jley  were  often  beaten  for  absence  from  the  meet¬ 

ings  or  for  neglect  when  present.  Some  bore  their  punishment 
quietly,  but  others  would  resist,  and  there  were  some  beldames 
n  the  company  who  did  not  hesitate  to  exchange  blows  with  Sa¬ 
bin  soh  Xa;dermElder’  0f  Earlseat’  was  often  beaten^  "“He  is 
but  soft  and  could  never  defend  himself  in  the  least,  but  ‘  greit’ 

[lament]  and  cry  when  he  would  be  scourging  him.  Margaret 

Wilson  would  defend  herself  finely,  and  cast  up  her  hands  to 

wlflf  Rhe  ftrokeS  off  heri  and  Bessie  Wilson  would  speak  crusty 

the  whole  °S8fie’  ^  W°Uld  be  belIing  again  to  him  stoutly.  On 
the  whole,  Satan  appears  to  have  been  bid  an  ill  master 'lor  he 

was  easily  offended,  and  “  when  he  wout  be  an^ry  at  us  he 

vou  <  grin  at  us  like  a  dog,  as  if  he  would  swallow  us  up  ”  How- 

g!ve\KeCeMfferingi  I1,"16  end  °f  the  raeetin^  be  -meftmls 

%  ,,  ™  hrawest  like  money  that  ever  was  coined  but 

,he  misfortune  to  ke/p  it  more  than  twenly-fo” 
dung !  heir  P°Ssession’  they  fo™d  it  was  nothing  but  horse- 

isobel  Gowdie  stated  that  when  they  went  to  the  meetings 

andTsaid— “  ^  "  *  bean-s,alk>  P1^  “  between 

Horse  and  hattnck,  horse  and  go, 

Horse  and  pellattis,  ho,  ho  ! 

Then  they  were  immediately  carried  into  the  air  “as  straws 
would  fly  upon  a  highway.”  If  i,  were  at  night,  and  the  whlh 

30* 


354 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


were  afraid  that  her  husband  might  miss  her  from  his  bed,  she 
took  a  besom  or  three-legged  stool,  placed  it  beside  him  in  bed, 
and  said  thrice — 

I  lay  down  this  besom  for  stool]  in  the  devil’s  name, 

Let  it  not  stir  till  I  come  again — 

“  and  it  immediately  seems  a  woman  beside  our  husbands.”  They 
often  travelled  in  this  way  by  day,  and  then  it  was  that  they 
amused  themselves  by  shooting  people  with  the  elf-arrowheads  ; 
and  people  who  see  straws  flying  about  the  air  in  a  whirlwind  on 
a  fine  day,  are  recommended  to  bless  themselves  devoutly,  be¬ 
cause  if  they  omit  that  precaution  they  are  liable  to  be  shot  by 
the  witches  who  ride  on  them.  “  Any  that  are  shot  by  us,”  Iso- 
bel  informs  us,  “their  souls  will  go  to  heaven,  but  their  bodies 
will  remain  with  us,  and  will  fly  as  horses  to  us,  as  small  as 
straws.”  Isobel  Gowdie  confessed  to  having  killed  many  peo¬ 
ple  in  this  manner.  The  first  time  she  went  to  her  covine  was 
to  Ploughlands,  where  she  shot  a  man  between  the  “  plough- 
stilts,”  and  he  presently  fell  on  his  face  to  the  ground.  The 
devil  gave  her  an  arrow  to  shoot,  at  a  woman  in  the  fields,  which 
she  did,  and  the  victim  dropped  down  dead.  As  they  were  riding 
one  day,  Isobel  by  the  side  of  Satan,  and  Margaret  Brodie  and 
Bessie  Hay  in  close  company  with  them,  they  met  Mr.  Harry 
Forbes,  the  minister  of  Auldearn,  going  to  Moynes,  on  which  the 
devil  gave  Margaret  Brodie  an  arrow  to  shoot  at  him.  Marga¬ 
ret  shot  and  missed  her  mark,  and  the  arrow  was  taken  up  again 
by  Satan  ;  but  when  she  offered  to  shoot  again,  he  said,  “  No, 
we  can  not  have  his  life  this  time.”  Presently  afterward  they 
saw  the  laird  of  P^rk,  and  the  devil  gave  Isobel  an  arrow. 
She  shot  at  him  as  he  was  crossing  a  burn,  and,  perhaps  owing 
to  this  circumstance,  missed  him,  for  which  Bessie  Hay  gave  her 
“  a  great  cuff.” 

The  witches  seem  to  have  entertained  an  especial  hostility 
toward  these  two  gentlemen.  In  the  winter  of  1660,  Mr.  Forbes 
was  sick,  it  appears,  in  consequence  of  a  conspiracy  of  these 
enemies.  They  made  a  mixture  of  the  galls,  flesh,  and  entrails 
of  toads,  grains  of  barley,  parings  of  finger  and  toe  nails,  the 
liver  of  a  hare,  and  “  bits  of  clouts.”  These  ingredients  were 
mixed  together,  and  seethed  or  boiled  all  night  in  water.  Satan 
was  with  them  during  this  process,  and  they  repeated  after  him, 
thrice  each  time,  the  words — - 

He  is  lying  in  his  bed,  he  is  lying  sick  and  sair, 

Let  him  lie  iiitill  his  bed  two  months  and  three  days  mair. 


THE  LAIRD  OF  PARK. 


355 


And  then — 

Let  him  lie  in  his  bed,  let  him  lie  intill  it  sick  and  sair. 

Let  him  lie  mtill  his  bed  two  months  and  three  days  mair. 

And  then  finally  — 

He  shall  lie  in  his  bed,  he  shall  lie  sick  and  sair, 

He  shall  lie  intill  his  bed  two  months  aud  three’da.ys  mair. 

At  night  they  went  into  Forbes’s  chamber  to  swing  this  mixture 
over  him  as  he  lay  sick  in  bed,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  they 
were  not  able  to  do  it.  They  now  chose  one  of  their  covine 
who  was  most  intimate  and  familiar  with  the  minister,  which 
happened  to  be  Bessie  Hay,  who,  as  they  could  not  injure  him 
by  night,  was  to  visit  him  by  day,  and  swing  the  noxious  mix¬ 
ture  over  him  ;  but  she  failed,  because  there  were  some  other 
“  worthy  persons”  with  him  at  the  time,  though  she  “  swung-”  a 
little  of  the  mixture  on  the  bed  where  he  lay. 

Mr.  Harry  Forbes  appears  to  have  received  no  serious  injury 
iom  the  witches,  as  he  was  one  of  those  who  sat  in  court  to 
hear  Isobel's  confession.  The  laird  of  Park  was  less  fortunate 
in  his  family,  if  he  escaped  in  his  person.  A  /neeting  was  held 
at  the  house  of  John  Taylor  of  Auldearn,  at  which  the  devil  was 
present  with  Isobel  Gowdie,  John  Taylor  and  his  wife,  and  one 
or  two  others,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  picture  of  clay  to  de¬ 
stroy  the  laird  of  Park’s  male  children.  John  Taylor" brought 
home  the  clay  in  “  his  plaidnewk”  (a  corner  of  his  plaid),  and 
they  broke  it  into  fine  powder,  and  passed  it  through  a  sieve. 
Ihen  they  poured  water  on  it  to  make  a  paste,  and  “  wrought  it 
very  sore  like  rye-bowt.”  As  they  threw  the  water  in,  they&said, 
in  the  devil’s  name — 

W e  pour  in  this  water  among  this  meal, 

For  lang  dwining  [languishing]  and  ill  heal ; 

W e  put  it  into  the  fire, 

That  it  may  be  burnt  with  stick  and  stowre ; 

It  shall  be  burnt,  with  our  will, 

As  any  stickle  [stubble]  upon  a  hill. 

<!  The  devil,”  says  Isobel,  “taught  us  these  words,  and  when  we 
had  learned  them,  we  all  fell  down  upon  our  bare  knees,  and  our 
hau  about  our  eyes,  and  our  hands  lifted  up,  looking  steadfastly 
upon  the  devil,  still  saying  the  words  thrice  over,  till  it  was 
made.  They  moulded  the  paste  into  the  figure  of  a  male-child, 
having  all  its  members  complete,  and  its  hands  folded  down  by 
its  sides  ;  and  they  laid  it  with  the  face  to  the  fire  till  it  was  al¬ 
most  dry,  then  in  the  devil’s  name  they  put  it  in  the  fire,  and  let 
it  remain  till  it  was  red  like  a  coal,  when  it  was  drawn  out  with 


356 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  same  ceremony.  This  image  was  intrusted  to  the  care  of 
John  Taylor  and  his  wife  ;  it  was  kept  wrapped  up  in  a  “  clout,” 
in  a  cradle  of  clay,  and  hung  up  in  a  “  knag”  in  their  house.  As 
often  as  they  wanted  to  kill  a  male-child  of  the  laird  of  Park, 
they  took  it  down,  wet  it,  and  roasted  it  every  other  day  till  the 
child  died,  and  then  put  it  away  again  ;  and  as  soon  as  another 
male-child  was  born  to  him,  they  let  it  live  six  months,  and  then 
destroyed  it  by  the  same  process.  We  are  told  in  the  confession 
that  “till  it  be  broken,  it  will  be  the  death  of  all  the  male-chil¬ 
dren  that  the  laird  of  Park  will  ever  get.  Cast  it  over  a  kirk  it 
will  not  break,  till  it  be  broken  with  an  axe,  or  some  such  like 
thing,  by  a  man’s  hand.  If  it  be  not  broken,  it  will  last  a  hun¬ 
dred  years.”  This  seems  to  be  a  remnant  of  the  early  belief 
which  led  the  Teutonic  invaders  to  destroy  the  Roman  statuary: 
we  continually  find,  on  Roman  sites,  bronzes  that  have  been  inten¬ 
tionally  mutilated  with  an  axe,  or  some  other  sharp  instrument. 

These  Scottish  witches  appear  to  have  had  no  eating  and 
drinking  at  their  sabbaths,  but  they  went  for  this  purpose  into  the 
houses  of  the  lairds  and  gentlemen  round  about,  to  feast  by  night 
on  the  provisions  which  were  always  found  there  in  plenty. 
They  went  thus  into  the  house  of  the  earl  of  Murray  himself. 
On  the  Candlemas  before  this  confession  was  made,  they  visited 
Grangeliill,  the  house  of  Brodie  of  Lethin,  where  they  got  “  meat 
and  drink  enough.”  On  these  occasions  the  devil  always  sat  at 
the  head  of  the  table,  and  the  maiden  of  the  covine  sat  next  to 
him,  and  was  served  first  and  best.  The  grace  they  said  before 
meat  was  as  follows  : — 

We  eat  this  meat  in  the  devil’s  name, 

With  sorrow,  and  sych”  [sighing],  and  mickle  shame; 

W e  shall  destroy  house  and  hold. 

Both  sheep  and  neat  intill  the  fold. 

Little  good  shall  come  to  the  fore 
Of  all  the  rest  of  the  little  store. 

In  these  excursions  the  witches  did  not  always  go  in  their 
own  semblances,  for  they  had  the  power  of  transforming  them¬ 
selves  into  the  shape  of  any  animals  except  lambs  or  doves, 
which,  as  emblems  of  innocence,  they  might  not  assume.  Isobel 
Gowdie  describes  minutely  the  process  of  transformation.  When 
the  witch  would  change  herself  into  a  hare,  the  form  that  appears 
to  have  been  adopted  most  commonly,  she  said  thrice — 

I  shall  go  into  a  hare, 

With  sorrow,  and  sych,  and  mickle  care; 

I  shall  go  in  the  devil’s  name, 

Ay  till  1  come  home  again — 


TRANSFORMATIONS  OF  THE  WITCHES.  357 

“  a;*d  instantl>;  we  start  ^  a  hare.”  When  they  wished  to  return 
to  their  own  shape,  they  repeated  thrice  the  words— 

Hare,  hare,  God  send  the  care  ! 
lam  in  a  hare’s  likeness  just  now, 

Hut  I  shall  be  in  a  woman's  likeness  even  now. 

When  they  chose  the  likeness  of  a  cat,  which  was  the  next  fa¬ 
vorite  form,  they  said  thrice— 

I  shall  go  intill  a  cat, 

With  sorrow,  and  sych,  and  a  black  shot ; 

a  r  1  g0  111  l^e  devil's  name, 

Ay  till  I  come  home  again. 

The  formula  was  similarly  varied  for  other  animals  As  thus 
transformed  they  passed  by  the  houses  of  other  witches  they 
called  them  out  and  they  came  in  similar  shapes.  Travelling  in  • 
these  assumed  shapes  was  not  always  safe.  Isobel  Gowdie  who 
o  ten  went  in  the  form  of  a  hare,  was  sent  one  day,  about  daybreak 
bis  shape  with  one  of  Satan’s  messages  to  some  of  hernemh- 

H  lfh  nnd  r  I161"  Way  ‘,net  with  the  servants  of  Patrick  Peplev  of 
Ivillhi  1,  who  happened  to  have  his  hounds  with  them  The  latter 

immediately  gave  chase  to  the  transformed  witch,  and  ran  a  Ter 
her  a  long  course,  until,  weary  and  hard  pressed,  she  gained  her 
own  house,  and  ran  behind  a  chest.  The  door  being^pen  the 

of  he  Chest  The  hart  T7  ll!,15|>e",n»  ">  S°  *»  Mother  ’side 

ot  tne  chest,  she  had  just  time  to  run  out  and  enter  the  house  of 
a  neighbor,  where  she  was  able  to  say  the  disenchanting  charm 

the  £nn°?rhd  She  Said  that’  while  thus  transformed’ 

the  hounds  had  not  power  to  kill  them,  but  if  they  chanced  to  be’ 

m  shape'  ”w  r„6mained  ‘t16?  ll!“»  recovered  their  nattr- 
rat  shape.  When  we  would  be  in  the  shape  of  cats  we  did 

no  nng  nit  cry  and  ‘  wraw’  [a  very  expressive  word  for  cater- 
aiding],  and  ‘  rywing’  [tearing],  and,  as  it  were,  worrying  one 
another;  and  when  we  come  to  our  own  shapes  a JaTn  we  will 
nul  the  scratches  and  ‘  rywes’  on  our  skins  very  sore  /’’’  About 

hous^1 'ofMr  °P  weilt  in  the  shape  of  rooks  to  the 

use  of  Mr.  Robert  Donaldson,  where  the  devil,  with  John  Tav 

lor  and  h.s  wTe,  went  down  the  kitchen  chimney,  and  perched 

fire  ”  ^0e0mh0eVr0n  00  whi<*  ^  p0t  Was  «»Peided  over  tSe 
hre.  J  he  others  seem  not  to  have  liked  this  mode  of  entry  and 

they  waited  till  their  friends  opened,  a  window,  and  then  they  all 
more  harm ’’  ^  “d  feaBted  on  beef  a"d  d^k,  ‘‘  but  di5  no 
Isobel  Gowdie  repeated  in  her  confessions  a  great  number  of 


353 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tlie  verses  which  they  used  in  their  incantations,  some  of  which 
are  curious.  Their  method  of  raising  a  tempestuous  wind  was 
to  take  a  rag  of  cloth,  wet  it  in  water,  and  then  take  a  beetle 
(with  which  washerwomen  beat  their  linen)  and  knock  it  on  the 
stone,  repeating  thrice — 

I  knock  tliis  rag  upon  this  stane, 

To  raise  the  wind  in  the  devil’s  name! 

It  shall  not  lie  until  I  please  again  ! 

To  appease  the  wind,  they  dried  the  rag,  and  said — 

We  lay  the  wind  in  the  devil’s  name, 

It  shall  not  rise  till  I  like  to  raise  it  again  ! 

I 

If  the  wind,  on  this  appeal,  did  not  instantly  abate,  the  witch 
called  her  spirit,  and  said  to  him,  “  Thief,  thief,  conjure  the  wind, 
•  and  cause  it  to  lie  !”  Isobel  said  that  they  had  no  power  over 
rain.  One  of  the  witches,  whose  husband  sold  cattle,  used  to 
put  a  swallow’s  feather  in  the  hide  of  the  beast,  and  say  thrice 
over  it,  before  it  went — 

I  put  out  this  beef  in  the  devil’s  name, 

That  mickle  silver  and  good  price  came  hame  !” 

They  had  many  charms  for  curing  diseases,  as  well  as  for 
sending  them.  It  was  common  with  them,  by  such  charms,  to 
appropriate  to  themselves  the  property  or  gain  of  others.  When 
they  wished  to  “  take  the  fruit  of  fishes”  from  the  fishermen,  they 
went  to  the  shore  before  the  boat  came  in,  and  standing  on  the 
brink  of  the  water,  they  said  thrice — 

The  fishers  are  gone  to  the  sea 
And  they  will  bring  home  fish  to  me  ; 

They  will  bring  them  hame  intill  the  boat, 

But  they  shall  get  of  them  but  the  smaller  sort. 

As  soon  as  the  boat  arrived,  they  stole  a  fish,  or  bought  or 
begged  one,  and  with  it  came  to  them  “  all  the  fruit  of  the  whole 
fishes  in  the  boat,  and  the  fishes  that  the  fishermen  themselves 
will  have  will  be  but  froth.” 

At  Lammas  (the  first  of  August),  the  witches  usually  appropri¬ 
ated  to  themselves,  in  a  similar  manner,  the  corn  and  other  prod¬ 
uce  of  the  fields,  though  the  particular  ceremonies  for  this  pur¬ 
pose  varied.  Isobel  Gowdie  told,  in  her  confession,  how,  soon 
after  her  conversion  to  sorcery,  she,  with  John  Taylor  and  his 
wife,  and  some  others,  met  in  the  kirkyard  of  Nairn,  and  raised 
from  its  grave  the  corpse  of  an  unchristened  child.  With  this 
and  some  other  ingredients,  such  as  parings  of  finger  and  toe 


CONFESSIONS  OF  ISOBEL  GOWDIE.  359 

nails,  grams  of  different  sorts,  and  leaves  of  colework  chonned 
eiy  small  she  formed  a  noxious  mixture;  and  going  to  the^end 

the  knd°rnBv  ,Sh“PP051'e  *he  ™il1  rf  Nai™'  *W  *rfw  some  on 

lie  land  By  this  means,  while  the  farmers  reaped  nothing  but 

straw,  all  the  grain  was  coiweyed  to  the  secret  storehouse  of  the 
itehes,  who  usually  kept  it  there  till  the  following  Christmas 
or  Easter,  and  then  shared  it  among  the  covine  She  further 
stated  that  one  night  before  the  Candlemas  of  1661  she  wem 
ith  the  other  witches  to  some  fields  “  be-east”  Kinloss  where 
they  yoked  a  plough  of  paddocks,  or  frogs  ;  the  braces ^ere  of 

ike  a  cow  s  mult,  they  took  tow  or  hemp,  and  twined  or  nlaited 
.t  the  wrong  way,  in  the  devil's  name  They  then  drew  he 
rope  thus  made  m  between  the  cow's  two  hind  fee  ind  om  e 

Send“;hef™ee,’-E,ayS,  “  ^  -Men°d  and 

the  rone  in  two  rf  ? ‘V®  cow  its  milk>  ll«y  most  cut 
rl,;  ?i ln  two-  ,T1|ey  had  similar  methods  of  taking  and  irans 

otherfhtaos’ ‘‘^hof  people's  ale,  and  of  abstracfing  virioi 

of  Tb  7u  ■  IS°bv  ?0wdle  further  stated  that,  when  any  one 

of  ApHI 7660°"*^  ?"  S*  18  dated  0e„7he  I3th 

a  pill,  1662,  and  her  last  bears  date  of  the  27th  of  May  Her 

most  intimate  associates  appear  to  have  been  John  Tayior  and 

is  wife,  the  latter  of  whom  made  a  confession  corroborating  in 

some  important  points,  especially  in  the  history  of  the ^  consmfacv 

against  the  laird  of  Park,  those  of  Isobel  Gowdie  The  e  co7 

fessions  have  been  printed  entire  by  Robert  Pitcairn 

bucli  were  the  confessions  of  Isobel  Gowdie  of  Auldearn  Tf 


3G0 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


supposing  that  there  were  persons  so  far  influenced  by  the  popu¬ 
lar  superstitions,  that  they  joined  together  in  practising  such 
ceremonies  as  are  above  described,  and  that  they  really  believed 
in  their  efficacy.  That  such  delusion  was  possible  on  an  exten¬ 
sive  scale  is  shown  by  the  celebrated  example  of  Major  Weir 
and  his  sister,  who  were  executed  less  than  ten  years  after  the 
date  of  Isobel’s  confessions.  This  man  had  distinguished  him¬ 
self  by  his  extraordinary  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  covenant,  and 
had  been  appointed,  in  1649,  with  the  rank  of  major,  to  command 
the  city-guard  of  Edinburgh.  He  lived  in  a  retired  manner  with 
a  maiden  sister.  Both  professed  in  their  utmost  rigor  the  severe 
doctrines  of  the  party  whose  cause  they  had  espoused,  and  the 
major,  who  always  appeared  in  his  ordinary  behavior  reserved 
and  melancholy,  was  especially  endowed  with  the  gift  of  prayer, 
which  made  him  a  welcome  visiter  to  the  side  of  a  sick-bed.  Af¬ 
ter  the  restoration,  the  melancholy  of  the  major  and  his  sister 
appeared  to  have  become  more  and  more  sombre,  until  it  settled 
into  a  kind  of  lunacy,  and  they  believed  themselves  guilty  of  the 
most  revolting  crimes  which  disgrace  humanity.  The  major 
now  began  to  make  extraordinary  confessions  to  liis  friends,  de¬ 
claring  that  his  sins  were  of  that  character  that  he  had  no  hopes 
of  salvation,  unless  he  should  be  brought  to  a  shameful  end  in 
this  world.  His  presbyterian  friends  did  their  utmost  to  restrain 
him,  alarmed  at  the  scandal  that  Weir’s  conduct  was  likely  to 
bring  on  their  religion  ;  but  the  affair  soon  reached  the  ears  of 
the  royalists,  who  were  just  as  glad  to  seize  upon  any  occasion 
of  hurting  the  cause  of  their  opponents.  Major  Weir  and  his 
sister  were  arrested,  and  both  made  what  was  called  a  full  con¬ 
fession,  involving  crimes  of  a  degrading  character.  As  these 
were  most  of  them  vices  which  the  king’s  party  had  long  been 
in  the  habit  of  ascribing  to  their  religious  adversaries,  we  are 
perhaps  justified  in  believing  that  they  may  have  taken  advantage 
of  their  state  of  mind  to  suggest  to  them  some  of  these  self-accu¬ 
sations.  They  found  two  or  three  witnesses  to  those  parts  of  his 
story  which  were  most  improbable.  His  sister  declared  that  he 
had  a  magical  staff,  which  he  always  carried  with  him,  and  which 
gave  him  eloquence  in  prayer.  She  said  that  once  a  person 
called  upon  them  at  noonday  with  a  fiery  chariot,  visible  only  to 
themselves,  and  took  them  to  visit  a  friend  at  Dalkeith,  where 
her  brother  received  information,  by  supernatural  means,  of  the 
event  of  the  battle  of  Worcester,  and  that  she  herself  had  inter¬ 
course  with  the  queen  of  the  fairies,  who  assisted  her  in  spinning 
an  unusual  quantity  of  yarn. 


MAJOR  weir  and  his  sister.  361 

1  here  was  a  woman  who  lived  in  the  West  Bmv  ™ 

deSnceCeSh0m  M8J'°r  ^eir’s  h,ou*e’  wh°  gave  the  fo’llowing^vi- 
nee.  She  was  a  substantial  merchant’s  wife,  and  “  being  very 

desirous  to  hear  him  pray,  for  that  end  spoke  to  some  of  her 

neighbors,  that  when  he  came  to  their  house  she  might  be  sent* 

his  mourtfbef8  'r’  bUthe  C°Uld  neVer  be  P^suaded  to  open 
his  mouth  before  her— no,  not  to  bless  a  cup  of  ale  :  he  either 

remained  mute,  or  up  with  his  staff  and  away.  Some  few  days 

pr!hViidiSf°'"erid  himself,  this  gentlewoman  coming  from  the 
S  e-  ill  where  her  husband's  niece  was  lying-in  of  a  child 
about  midmght  perceived  about  the  Bow-head  three  women  in 
the  windows,  shouting,  laughing,  and  clapping  their  hands.  The 
gentlewoman  went  forward,  till  just  at  Major  Weir’s  door  there 
rose  as  from  the  street,  a  woman  about  the  height  of  two  ordi¬ 
nary  females,  and  stepped  forward.  The  gentlewoman  not  as 
>e  excessively  feared,  bid  her  maid  step  on,  if  by  the’lantern 
they  could  see  what  she  was  ;  but  haste  what  they  could  this 
°ng-  egged  spectre  was  still  before  them,  moving  her  body  with 
a  vehement  cachination— a  great,  unmeasurable  laughter.  At 
this  rate  the  two  strove  for  place,  till  the  giantess  came  to  a  nar¬ 
row  lane sin  the  Bow,  commonly  called  the  Stinking-close,  into 
vnch  she  turning,  and  the  gentlewoman  looking  after  her  per¬ 
ceived  the  close  full  of  flaming  torches  (she  could  give  them  no 

tor  ion  XT  ’  ?  aS  U  lad  been  a  great  muhitude  of  people,  sten- 
tonously  laughing,  and  gaping  with  tahees  of  laughter.  This 

ght,  at  so  dead  a  time  of  the  night,  no  people  being  in  the  win- 

home  f  Tgmg  '  f  cIcJse>  made  her  and  her  servant  haste 
ome,  declaring  all  what  they  saw  to  the  rest  of  the  family  but 

more  passionately  to  her  husband.  And  though  sick  with  fear 
yet  she  went  the  next  morning  with  her  maid  to  view  the  noted 
places  of  her  former  night’s  walk,  and  at  the  close  inquired  who 
lived  there.  It  was  answered,  Major  Weir;  the  honest  couple 
now  rejmeng  that  to  Weir’s  devotion  they  never  said  amen.” 

W  hen  Major  Weirs  sister  was  brought  to  the  place  of  execution 
and  saw  the  multitude  of  spectators,  she  exclaimed  •  “  Many 
weep  and  lament  for  a  poor  old  wretch  like  me  ;  but,  alas  »  few 
are  weeping  for  a  broken  covenant.”  A  clear  proof  of  the  state 
ol  mind  in  which  these  miserable  people  suffered 

31 


362 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  WITCHES  OF  MOHRA  IN  SWEDEN. 

In  general  the  countries  of  northern  Europe  appear  to  have 
been  less  subject  to  these  extensive  witch-prosecutions  than  the 
south,  although  there'  the  ancient  popular  superstitions  reigned 
in  great  force.  Probably  this  latter  circumstance  contributed  not 
a  little  to  the  extraordinary  character  assumed  by  a  case  of  this 
nature,  which,  during  the  years  1669  and  1670,  caused  a  great 
sensation  throughout  Sweden,  and  drew  also  the  attention  of 
other  countries.  It  began  in  a  district  which  would  seem  by  its 
name  of  Elfdale  to  have  been  the  peculiar  domain  of  the  fairies, 
and  the  chief  actors  in  it  were  children,  whom,  according  to  the 
old  popular  belief,  the  fairies  were  always  on  the  look  out  to 
carry  away. 

The  villages  of  Mohra  and  Elfdale  are  situated  in  the  dales 
of  the  mountainous  districts  of  the  central  part  of  Sweden.  In 
the  first  of  the  years  above-mentioned,  a  strange  report  went 
abroad  that  the  children  of  the  neighborhood  were  carried  away 
nightly  to  a  place  they  called  Blockula,  where  they  were  re¬ 
ceived  by  Satan  in  person  ;  and  the  children  themselves,  who 
were  the  authors  of  the  report,  pointed  out  to  numerous  women 
who  they  said  were  witches  and  carried  them  thither.  We 
have  no  information  as  to  the  manner  in  which  this  affair  arose, 
or  how  it  was  first  made  public,  but  within  a  short  space  of  time 
nearly  all  the  children  of  the  district  became  compromised  in  it, 
and  agreed  in  nearly  the  same  story.  They  asserted  in  the 
strongest  manner  the  fact  of  their  being  carried  away  in  multi¬ 
tudes  to  the  place  of  ghostly  rendezvous,  and  we  are  told  that 
the  pale  and  emaciated  appearance  of  these  juvenile  victims 
gave  consistency  to  their  statements,  although  there  was  the 
testimony  of  their  own  parents  that  during  their  pretended  ab¬ 
sence  they  had  never  been  missed  from  home. 

Some  of  the  incidents  in  this  singular  and  tragical  case  seem 
to  have  been  borrowed  from  the  witchcraft-cases  in  France  and 
Germany,  although  it  is  not  very  easy  to  understand  how  this 
could  have  been  the  case  in  what  was  evidently  a  very  retired 
part  of  the  country.  The  minister  seems  to  have  shared  largely 


THE  EXAMINATION.  363 

mP?ne«|dnf1US10J!  an<lhe  ma7  Perhaps  have  been  involuntarily  the 
means  ot  working  the  story  of  the  children  into  its  finished  form 
The  alarm  and  terror  in  the  district  became  so  great  that  a  re- 

ers\wl  at )  aSt  madie  t0  the  king’  who  nominated  comrflission- 
s,  partly  clergy  and  partly  laymen  to  inquire  into  the  extraor- 
dinary  circumstances  which  had  been  brought  under  his  notice 

1nte^oenenTmrn,SS10nT  arriVed  in  M°hra  and  amiou"ced  their 
mention  of  opening  their  proceedings  on  the  13th  of  August, 

am°>!  the  12thi  Ajlg!1St’  the  commissioners  met  at  the  parson- 

nLnl  fe’tl?nd|  heard  !he  coraplamts  of  the  minister  and  several 

Sn  t W  b6tter  C  aSiS’  Wh°  t0ld  them  of  the  miserable  con- 

turn  they  were  in,  and  prayed  that  by  some  means  or  other 

they  might  he  delivered  from  the  calamity.  They  gravely  told 

heVSTT?  lKha‘  b7  ‘he  helP  »f 

hen  children  had  been  drawn  to  Satan,  who  had  been  seen  to 
go  m  a  visible  shape  through  the  country,  and  to  appear  daily 
to  the  people  ;  the  poorer  sort  of  them,  they  said,  he  had  seduced 
byfeasmg  them  with  meat  and  drink.  Prayers  and  humilia¬ 
tions,  it  appears,  had  been  ordered  by  the  church  authorities 
and  were  strictly  observed,  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  village 

avTn  andtWH  ^  ™™missioners  that  they  had  been  of  no 

snftP  ,/  i  -h  i  heir  ch,Idren  vvere  carried  away  by  the  fiend  in 
pite  of  their  devotions.  They  therefore  earnestly  begged  that 

the  witches  who  had  been  the  cause  of  the  evil  might  be  rooted 

ness"”  thel  regain  tlieir  former  and  quiet- 

ess  the  rather,  they  said,  “  because  the  children  which  used 

_  ®  Carried  a'™y  ln  the  country  or  district  of  Elfdale,  since 

-ltChes  had  been  burnt  there,  remained  unmolested.”  This 
ertainly  was  a  cogent  argument  for  persecution. 

humiliation  ^  the  ^  da^  aPPointed  for  prayer  and 

nliation,  and  before  opening  their  commission  the  commis- 

assemblv  oM ‘rt ChUrCh’  “  Th?f  there  appeared  a  considerable 

of  them  V  J°im?  and  °  d-  The  Children  could  read  most 

of  them,  and  sing  psalms,  and  so  could  the  women,  though  not 

with  any  great  zeal  and  fervor.  There  were  preached  two  ser- 
nb  that  day,  m  which  the  miserable  case  of  those  people  that 
suffered  themselves  to  be  deluded  by  the  devil  was  laid  open  ; 

iiaver  Trrm°m-  Wefe  kst  concIuded  with  very  fervent 

town  :  ^  if^  iC  WThlp  being  °ver’  a11  the  Pe°Ple  of  the 

town  were  called  together  in  the  parson’s  house,  near  three 

thousand  of  them.  Silence  being  commanded,  the  kino’s  com¬ 
mission  was  read  publicly  in  Shearing  of  them  all,  and  t^y 


3C4 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


were  charged,  under  very  great  penalties,  to  conceal  nothing  of 
what  they  knew,  and  to  say  nothing  but  the  truth,  those  espe¬ 
cially  who  were  guilty,  that  the  children  might  be  delivered  from 
the  clutches  of  the  devil;  they  all  promised  obedience;  the 
guilty  feignedly,  but  the  guiltless  weeping  and  crying  bitterly.” 

The  commissioners  entered  upon  their  duties  on  the  next  day 
with  the  utmost  diligence,  and  the  result  of  their  misguided  zeal 
formed  one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  of  cruel  and  re¬ 
morseless  persecution  that  stain  the  annals  of  sorcery.  No  less 
than  threescore  and  ten  inhabitants  of  the  village  and  district  of 
Mohra,  three-and-twenty  of  whom  made  confessions,  were  con¬ 
demned  and  executed.  One  woman  pleaded  that  she  was  with 
child,  and  the  rest  denied  their  guilt, 'and  these  were  sent  to 
Fahluna,  where  most  of  them  were  afterward  put  to  death. 
Fifteen  children  were  among  those  who  suffered  death,  and 
thirty-six  more,  of  different  ages  between  nine  and  sixteen,  "were 
forced  to  run  the  gauntlet,  and  be  scourged  on  the  hands  at  the 
church-door  every  Sunday  for  one  year  ;  while  twenty  more, 
who  had  been  drawn  into  these  practices  more  unwillingly,  and 
were  very  young,  were  condemned  to  be  scourged  with  rods 
upon  their  hands  for  three  successive  Sundays  at  the  church- 
door.  The  number  of  the  children  accused  was  about  three 
hundred. 

It  appears  that  the  commissioners  began  by  taking  the  con¬ 
fessions  of  the  children,  and  then  they  confronted  them  with  the 
witches  whom  the  children  accused  as  their  seducers.  The  latter, 
to  use  the  words  of  the  authorized  report,  having  “  most  of  them 
children  with  them,  which  they  had  either  seduced  or  attempted 
to  seduce,  some  seven  years  of  age,  nay,  from  four  to  sixteen 
years,”  now  appeared  before  the  commissioners.  “  Some  of  the 
children  complained  lamentably  of  the  misery  and  mischief  they 
were  forced  sometimes  to  suffer  of  the  devil  and  the  witches.” 
Being  asked,  whether  they  were  sure,  that  they  were  at  any 
time  carried  away  by  the  devil,  they  all  replied  in  the  affirma¬ 
tive.  “  Hereupon  the  witches  themselves  were  asked,  whether 
the  confessions  of  those  children  were  true,  and  admonished  to 
confess  the  truth,  that  they  might  turn  away  from  the  devil  unto 
the  living  God.  At  first,  most  of  them  did  very  stiffly,  and  with¬ 
out  shedding  the  least  tear,  deny  it,  though  much  against  their 
will  and  inclination.  After  this  the  children  were  examined 
every  one  by  themselves,  to  see  whether  their  confessions  did 
agree  or  no,  and  the  commissioners  found  that  all  of  them,  ex¬ 
cept  some  very  little  ones,  which  could  not  tell  all  the  circum- 


THE  WITCHES  CONFESS.  565 

stances,  did  punctually  agree  in  their  confessions  of  particulars 
In  the  meanwhile  the  commissioners  that  were  of  the  cW 
examined  the  witches,  but  could  not  bring  them  to  any  confcS 
sion,  all  continuing  steadfast  in  their  denials,  till  at  last'  some  of 
hem  burst  out  into  tears,  and  their  confess^  agreed  with  what 

ac.  aidebeSi  their  ahho„e!ce  „7,he 

tact,  and  begged  pardon,  adding  that  the  devil,  whom  thev 

called  Locyta,  had  stopped  the  mouths  of  some  of  them  so  loath 
™  he  to  part  w.th  his  prey,  and  had  stopped  the  ears  of  others 
aod  being  now  gone  from  them,  they  could  no  longer  conceal 
it,  for  they  had  now  perceived  his  treachery.”  ° 

In  n/t  Var!0lls  confessions,  not  only  of  the  witches  and  children 

forSreve  ?  ,1  6  Elfdale'  Panted  a  remarkable  uni” 

runty,  even  in  their  more  minute  details.  They  all  asserted 

aonearm  1^  l*"'*?  ‘°  “  pIace  called  Elockula,  although  they 

lay  aL  tlmlh  eei”gn0rtnt  W';ere  °r  a*  how  Sreat  a  dis‘»nce  d 
rmV  d  f  y  e  there  lasted  by  the  arch-fiend.  The 

ince  of  10ElfdfnIfle/ltCh7  °f  ?Ifdale  ran  thus  :  “  We  of  the  P™v- 
,  •  .  .  Male  d°  confess,  that  we  used  to  go  to  a  gravel-nit 

our'hea  I6S  "i  cross-way>  and  Aere  we  put  on  a  vest  over 

om  heads,  and  then  danced  round  ;  and  after  this  ran  to  the  cross- 

on  d  time  called  the  devil  thrice,  first  with  a  still  voice,  the  sec- 

thesJ ZovlTZ  f  K  er’  aUd  the  third  time  ver7  l0”d,  with 

tnese  words,  Antecessor,  come  and  carry  us  to  Blockula’ 

itsh  hmPfnr  trmediatelyhe  Used  t0  appear ;  but  in  different  hab- 

blue  stocking  T^l  P!T  hlm  in  a  gray  coat  and  red  and 

linen  S  g  5  h?  had  a  red  beard>  a  high-crowned  hat,  with 

stocking  rn  C  ^  Wrapt  ab0Ut  il’  and  l0Ilg  ga«ers  upon  his 
never  inn  *  1 Y^7-  remarkable,  says  the  report,  that  the  devil 

asked  ?PeT  u  he  WltcheS  wilh  a  sword  by  his  side.]  Then  he 
upkwer  b’  whether  wouId  serve  him  with  soul  and  body.  If 

readv  7nCd°  d°  S°’  he  SGt  US  °n  a  beast  which  be  had there 

Ill  we  lLCred  US  °ver  churches  and  high  walls,  and  after 
all  we  came  to  a  green  meadow  where  Blockula  lies.  We  must 

lndCtlheenSbme  °f  altars,  and  filings  of  cluirch-clocks  ; 

and  then  he  gave  us  a  horn,  with  a  salve  in  it,  wherewith  we  do 

anoint  ourselves,  and  a  saddle  with  a  hammer  and  a  wooden  nail 
awly  wl°oo*  the  SaddIe  ’  whereupon  we  call  upon  the  devil,  and 

vPh,e  witches  of  Mohra  made  similar  statements;  and  being 

lid'  !5  they  W6re  SUr  °f  a  reaI  personal  transportation, 
and  whether  they  were  awake  when  it  took  place,  they  all  an¬ 
swered  in  the  affirmative  ;  and  they  said  that  the  devil  sometimes 

31* 


366 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


laid  something  down  in  their  place  that  was  very  like  them  ;  but 
one  of  them  asserted  that  he  did  only  take  away  “  her  strength,” 
while  her  body  lay  still  upon  the  ground,  though  sometimes  he 
took  away  her  body  also.  They  were  then  asked,  how  they 
could  go  with  their  bodies  through  chimneys  and  unbroken  panes 
of  glass  ;  to  which  they  replied,  that  the  devil  did  first  remove 
all  that  might  hinder  them  in  their  flight,  and  so  they  had  room 
enough  to  go.  Others,  who  were  asked  how  they  were  able  to 
carry  so  many  children  with  them,  said  that  they  came  into  the 
chamber  where  the  children  lay  asleep,  and  laid  hold  of  them, 
upon  which  they  awoke  ;•  they  then  asked  them  whether  they 
would  go  to  a  feast  with  them.  To  which  some  answered,  Yes  ; 
others,  No,  “  yet  they  were  all  forced  to  go they  only  gave  the 
children  a  shirt,  and  a  coat,  and  doublet,  which  was  either  red 
or  blue,  and  so  they  set  them  upon  a  beast  of  the  devil’s  provi¬ 
ding,  and  then  they  rode  away.  The  children  confessed  that 
this  was  true,  and  some  of  them  added,  that  because  they  had 
very  fine  clothes  put  upon  them,  they  were  very  willing  to  go. 
Some  of  the  children  said  that  they  concealed  it  from  their  pa¬ 
rents,  while  others  made  no  secret  of  their  visits  to  Blockula'. 
“  The  witches  declared,  moreover,  that  till  of  late,  they  had  nev¬ 
er  power  to  carry  away  children,  but  only  this  year  and  the  last ; 
and  the  devil  did  at  that  time  force  them  to  it ;  that  heretofore  it  was 
sufficient  to  carry  but  one  of  their  own  children,  or  a  stranger’s 
child  with  them,  which  happened  seldom  ;  but  now  he  did  plague 
them  and  whip  them,  if  they  did  not  procure  him  many  children, 
insomuch  that  they  had  no  peace  nor  quiet  for  him.  And  where¬ 
as  that  formerly  one  journey  a  week  would  serve  their  turn  from 
their  own  town  to  the  place  aforesaid,  now  they  were  forced  to  run 
to  other  towns  and  places  for  children,  and  that  they  brought  with 
them  some  fifteen,  some  sixteen  children  every  night.” 

The  journey  to  Blockula  was  not  always  made  with  the  same 
kind  of  conveyance;  they  commonly  used  men,  beasts,  even 
spits  and  posts,  according  as  they  had  opportunity.  They  pre¬ 
ferred,  however,  riding  upon  goats,  and  if  they  had  more  chil¬ 
dren  with  them  than  the  animal  could  conveniently  carry,  they 
elongated  its  back  by  means  of  a  spit  anointed  with  their  magi¬ 
cal  ointment.  It  was  further  stated,  that  if  the  children  did  at 
any  time  name  the  names  of  those,  either  man  or  woman,  that 
had  been  with  them,  and  had  carried  them  away,  they  were  again 
carried  by  force,  either  to  Blockula  or  the  cross-way,  and  there 
beaten,  insomuch  that  some  of  them  died  of  it;  and  this  some  of 
the  witches  confessed,  and  added,  that  now  they  were  exceed- 


description  of  blockula. 


367 


ingly  troubled  and  tortured  in  their  minds  for  it.”  One  thin* 
was  wanting  to  confirm  this  circumstance  of  their  confession 
1  he  marks  of  the  whip  could  not  be  found  on  the  persons  of  the 
victims  except  on  one  boy,  who  had  some  wounds  and  holes  in 
ms  back,  that  were  given  him  with  thorns  ;  but  the  witches  said 
they  would  quickly  vanish.” 

The  confessions  were  very  minute  in  regard  to  the  effects  of 
the  journey  on  the  children  after  their  return.  “  They  are,”  says 
the  history,  “  exceedingly  weak  ;  and  if  any  be  carried  over  night, 
they  can  not  recover  themselves  the  next  day,  and  they  often  fall 
into  fits  ;  the  coming  of  which  they  know  by  an  extraordinary 
paleness  that  seizes  on  tire  children,  and  when  a  fit  comes  upon 
them,  they  lean  upon  their  mother’s  arms,  who  sits  up  with  them, 
sometimes  all  night,  and  when  they  observe  the  paleness,  shake  the 
children,  but  to  no  purpose.  They  observe,  further,  that  their  chil¬ 
drens  breasts  grow  cold  at  such  times,  and  they  take  sometimes  a 
burning  candle  and  stick  it  in  their  hair,  which  yet  is  not  burned 
by  it.  They  swoon  upon  this  paleness,  which  swoon  lasteth  some- 
time  halt  an  hour,  sometimes  an  hour,  sometimes  two  hours,  and 
when  the  children  come  to  themselves  again,  they  mourn  and 
lament,  and  groan  most  miserably,  and  beg  exceedingly  to  be 
eased.  This  the  old  men  declared  upon  oath  before  the  judges, 
and  called  the  inhabitants  ol  the  town  to  witness,  as  persons  that 
had  most  of  them  experience  of  the  strong  symptoms  of  their 
children.” 

One  little  girl  in  Elfdale  confessed  that,  happening  accidental¬ 
ly  to  utter  the  name  of  Jesus,  as  she  was  carried  away,  she  fell 
suddenly  upon  the  ground,  and  received  a  hurt  in  her  side,  which 
the  devil  presently  healed,  and  away  he  carried  her. 

A  boy  of  the  same  district  said  that  one  day  he  was  carried 
away  with  his  mistress ;  and  to  perform  the  journey  he  took  his 
father’s  horse  out  of  the  meadow,  where  it  was  feeding,  and  upon 
his  return,  she  let  the  horse  go  into  her  own  ground.  The  next 
morning  the  boy’s  father  sought  lor  the  horse,  and  not  finding  it 
in  its  place,  imagined  that  it  was  lost,  till  the  boy  told  him  the 
whole  story,  and  the  father  found  the  horse  according  to  his  child’s 
statement. 

The  account  they  gave  of  Blockula  was,  that  it  was  situated 
in  a  jarge  meadow,  like  a  plain  sea,  “  wherein  you  can  see  no 
end.  I  he  house  they  met  at  had  a  great  gate  painted  with 
many  divers  colors.  Through  this  gate  they  went  into  a  little 
meadow  distinct  from  the  other,  and  here  they  turned  their  ani¬ 
mals  to  graze.  W  hen  they  had  made  use  of  men  for  their  beasts 


363 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


of  burthen,  they  set  them  up  against  the  wall  in  a  state  of  help¬ 
less  slumber,  and  there  they  remained  till  wanted  for  the  home¬ 
ward  flight.  In  a  very  large  room  of  this  house,  stood  a  long  ta¬ 
ble,  at  which  the  witches  sat  down  ;  and  adjoining  to  this  room 
was  another  chamber,  where  there  were  “  lovely  and  delicate 
beds.” 

As  soon  as  they  arrived  at  Blockula,  the  visiters  were  required 
to  deny  their  baptism,  and  devote  themselves  body  and  soul  to 
Satan,  whom  they  promised  to  serve  faithfully.  Hereupon  he  cut 
their  fingers,  and  they  wrote  their  name  with  blood  in  his  book. 
He  then  caused  them  to  be  baptized  anew,  by  priests  appointed 
for  that  purpose.  Upon  this  the  devil  gave  them  a  purse,  wherein 
there  were  filings  of  clocks,  with  a  big  stone  tied  to  it,  which 
they  threw  into  the  water,  and  said,  “  As  these  filings  of  the  clock 
do  never  return  to  the  clock,  from  which  they  were  taken,  so 
may  my  soul  never  return  to  heaven !”  Another  difficulty  arose 
in  verifying  this  statement,  that  few  of  the  children  had  any 
marks  on  their  fingers  to  show  where  they  had  been  cut.  But 
here  again  the  story  was  helped  by  a  girl  who  had  her  finger 
much  hurt,  and  who  declared,  that  because  she  would  not  stretch 
out  her  finger,  the  devil  in  anger  had  thus  wounded  it. 

When  these  ceremonies  were  completed,  the  witches  sat  down 
at  the  table,  those  whom  the  fiend  esteemed  most  being  placed 
nearest  to  him  ;  but  the  children  were  made  to  stand  near  the 
door,  where  he  himself  gave  them  meat  and  drink .  Perhaps  we 
may  look  for  the  origin  of  this  part  of  the  story  in  the  pages  of 
Pierre  de  Lancre.  The  food  with  which  the  visiters  to  Block- 
ula  were  regaled,  consisted  of  broth,  with  cole  worts  and  bacon 
in  it;  oatmeal  bread  spread  with  butter;  milk,  and  cheese. 
Sometimes,  they  said,  it  tasted  very  well,  and  sometimes  very  ill. 
After  meals  they  went  to  dancing,  and  it  was  one  peculiarity  of 
these  northern  witches’  sabbaths,  that  the  dance  was  usually  fol¬ 
lowed  by  fighting.  Those  of  Elfdale  confessed  that  the  devil 
used  to  play  upon  a  harp  before  them.  Another  peculiarity  of 
these  northern  witches  was,  that  children  resulted  from  their  in¬ 
tercouse  with  Satan,  and  these  children  having  married  together, 
became  the  parents  of  toads  and  serpents.  Satan  loved  to  play 
tricks  upon  his  subjects.  One  day  he  pretended  to  be  dead,  and, 
singularly  enough,  there  was  a  great  lamentation  among  the 
witches  at  Blockula ;  but  he  soon  showed  signs  of  life.  If  he 
had  a  mind  to  be  merry  with  them,  he  let  them  all  ride  upon 
spits  before  him,  and  finished  by  taking  the  spits  and  beating  them 
black  and  blue,  and  then  laughed  at  them.  Then  he  told  them 


THE  WITCHES  OF  SWEDEN. 


369 


that  the  day  of  judgment  was  at  hand,  and  set  them  to  build  a 
great  house  of  stone,  promising  that  in  his  house  he  would  pre¬ 
serve  them  from  God’s  wrath,  and  cause  them  to  enjoy  the  oreat- 
est  delights  and  pleasures  ;  but  while  they  were  hard  at  work,  he 
caused  a  great  part  of  the  work  to  fall  down  upon  them,  and  some 
of  the  witches  were  severely  hurt,  which  made  him  laugh. 

Some  of  the  children  spoke  of  a  very  great  demon  like  a  drao-- 
on,  with  fire  round  about  him,  and  bound  with  an  iron  chain*  • 
and  the  devil  told  them  that  if  they  confessed  anything,  he  would 
set  that  great  devil  loose  upon  them,  whereby  all  Sweden  should 
come  into  great  danger.  They  said  that  the  devil  had  a  church 
there  like  that  m  the  village  of  Mohra.  When  he  heard  that  the 
commissioners  were  coming,  he  told  the  witches  they  should  not 
fear  them,  for  he  would  certainly  kill  them  all.  And  they  con¬ 
fessed  some  ol  them  had  attempted  to  murder  the  commissioners, 
but  had  not  been  successful.  Some  of  the  children  improved 
upon  these  stories,  and  told  of  “  a  white  angel,  which  used  to 
forbid  them  what  the  devil  had  bid  them  do,  and  told  that  these 
tilings  should  not  last  long  ;  what  had  been  done  had  been 
permitted,  because  of  the  sin  and  wickedness  of  the  people 
and  their  parents  ;  and  that  the  carrying  away  of  the  children 
should  be  made  manifest.  And  they  added,  that  this  white  an¬ 
gel  would  place  himself  sometimes  at  the  door  between  the  witches 
and  the  children,  and  that  when  they  came  to  Blockula  he  pulled 
the  children  back,  but  the  witches  went  on. 

The  witches  of  Sweden  appear  to  have  been  less  noxious  than 
those  of  most  other  countries,  for,  whatever  they  acknowledged 
themselves,  thfere  seems  to  have  been  no  evidence  of  mischief 
done  by  them.  They  confessed  that  they  were  obliged  to  prom¬ 
ise  Satan  that  they  would  do  all  kind  of  mischief,  and  that  the 
devil  taught  them  to  milk,  which  was  after  this  manner.  They 
used  to  stick  a  knife  in  the  wall,  and  hang  a  kind  of  label  on  it 
which  they  drew  and  stroked  ;  and  as  long  as  this  lasted,  the 
persons  they  had  power  over  were  miserably  plagued,  and’  the 
beasts  were  milked  that  way,  till  sometimes  they  died  of  it.  A 
woman  confessed  that  the  devil  gave  her  a  wooden  knife,  where¬ 
with,  going  into  houses,  she  had  power  to  kill  anythin^  she 
touched  with  it;  yet  there  were  few  that  would  confess  tha? they 
had  hurt  any  man  or  woman.  Being  asked  whether  they  had 
murdered  any  children,  they  confessed  that  they  had  indeed  tor¬ 
mented  many,  but  did  not  know  whether  any  of  them  died  of 
these  plagues,  although  they  said  that  the  devil  had  showed  them 
several  places  where  he  had  the  power  to  do  mischief.  The 


370 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


minister  of  Elfdale  declared,  that  one  night  these  witches  were, 
to  his  thinking,  on  the  crown  of  his  head,  and  that  thence  he  had 
a  long-continued  pain  of  the  head.  And  upon  this  one  of  the 
witches  confessed  that  the  devil  had  sent  her  to  torment  that  min¬ 
ister,  and  that  she  was  ordered  to  use  a  nail,  and  strike  it  into 
his  head ;  but  his  skull  was  so  hard  that  the  nail  would  not  pen¬ 
etrate  it,  and  merely  produced  that  headache.  The  hard-headed 
minister  said  further,  that  one  night  he  felt  a  pain  as  if  he  were 
torn  with  an  instrument  used  for  combing  flax,  and  when  he 
awoke  he  heard  somebody  scratching  and  scraping  at  the  win¬ 
dow,  but  could  see  nobody;  and  one  of  the  witches  confessed, 
that  she  was  the  person  that  had  thus  disturbed  him.  The  min¬ 
ister  of  Molira  declared  also,  that  one  night  one  of  these  witches 
came  into  his  house,  and  did  so  violently  take  him  by  the  throat, 
that  he  thought  he  should  have  b&en  choked,  and  awaking,  he 
saw  the  person  that  did  it,  but  could  not  know  her  ;  and  that  for 
some  weeks  he  was  not  able  to  speak,  or  perform  divine  service. 

An  old  woman  of  Elfdale  confessed,  that  the  devil  had  helped 
her  to  make  a  nail,  which  she  struck  into  a  boy’s  knee,  of  which 
stroke  the  boy  remained  lame  a  long  time.  And  she  added,  that 
before  she  was  burned  or  executed  by  the  hand  of  justice,  the  boy 
would  recover. 

Another  circumstance  confessed  by  these  witches  was,  that 
the  devil  gave  them  a  beast,  about  the  shape  and  bigness  of  a 
cat,  which  they  called  a  carrier,  and  a  bird  as  big  as  a  raven,  but 
white  ;  and  these  they  could  send  anywhere,  and  wherever  they 
came  they  took  away  all  sorts  of  victuals,  such  as  butter,  cheese, 
milk,  bacon,  and  all  sorts  of  seeds,  and  carried  theih  to  the  witch. 
What  the  bird  brought  they  kept  for  themselves,  but  what  the 
carrier  brought,  they  took  to  Blockula,  where  the  archfiend  gave 
them  as  much  of  it  as  he  thought  good.  The  carriers,  they  said, 
filled  themselves  so  full  oftentimes,  that  they  were  forced  to 
disgorge  it  by  the  way,  and  what  they  thus  rendered  fell  to  the 
ground,  and  is  found  in  several  gardens  where  coleworts  grow, 
and  far  from  the  houses  of  the  witches.  It  was  of  a  yellow  color 
like  gold,  and  was  called  witches’  butter. 

“  The  lords  commissioners,”  says  the  report,  “  were  indeed 
very  earnest,  and  took  great  pains  to  persuade  them  to  show  some 
of  their  tricks,  but  to  no  purpose  ;  for  they  did  all  unanimously 
declare,  that  since  they  had  confessed  all,  they  found  that  all 
their  witchcraft  was  gone  ;  and  the  devil  at  this  time  appeared 
very  terrible,  with  claws  on  his  hands  and  feet,  w  ith  horns  on 
his  head,  and  a  long  tail  behind,  and  showed  them  a  pit  burning, 


371 


THE  END  OF  THE  INQUIRY. 

will,  a  hand  out ; ;  but  the  devil  did  thrust  the  person  down  a.ain 
nth  an  iron  fork,  and  suggested  to  the  witches  that  if  thev  con 
manner.”  c0"fessl0“-  >*e  would  deal  with  them  in  the^ame' 

Such  are  the  details,  as  far  as  they  can  now  be  obtained  of 
this  extraordinary  deluston,  the  only  one  of  a  similar  kind  that 
Ave  know  to  have  occurred  in  the  northern  mrf  nf  U  idt 
ting  the  ..  age  of  witchcraft.-  I„  oZer  “cafg 

eially  trace  some  particular  cause  which  gave  rise  to  PTeat 
persecutions  of  this  kind,  but  here,  as  the  story  is  told  we~  see 
none,  lor  it  is »  hardly  likely  that  such  a  strange  series  of  accusa 
“°^have  been  the  mere  involuntary  creation  of  a  party 

little  children.  Suspicion  is  excited  by  the  peculiar  part  which 
the  two  clergymen  of  Elfdale  and  Mohra  acted  in  itP  that  thev 
were  not  altogether  strangers  to  the  fabrication.  They  seem  to 
have  been  w  eak  superstitious  men,  and  perhaps  they  had  been  read¬ 
ing  the i  witchcraft  books  of  the  south  till  they  imagined  the  country 
round  them  to  be  overrun  with  these  noxious  beings.  The  pro7 
ceedings  at  Mohra  caused  so  much  alarm  throughout  Sweden 
that  prayers  were  ordered  in  all  the  churches  for  the  delivery 
fiom  the  snares  of  Satan,  who  was  believed  to  have  been  let  loose 
n  hat  kingdom.  On  a  sudden  a  new  edict  of  the  king  put  a  stop 
to  the  whole  process,  and  the  matter  was  brought  to  a  close  rather 
mysteriously  It  is  said  that  the  witch  prosecution  was  increas- 
ng  so  much  m  intensity,  that,  accusations  began  to  he  made 
,Pet°P  ?  hl§her  class  in  society,  and  then  a  complaint 
]  S  made  to.  the  kin£>  and  they  were  stopped.  Perhaps  the  two 
•clergymen  themselves  became  alarmed,  but  one  thing  seems  cer¬ 
tain,  that  the  moment  the  commission  was  revoked,  and  the  per¬ 
secution  ceased,  no  more  witches  were  heard  of.  It  was  thus 
m  most  countries;  as  long  as  the  poor  alone  were  the  victims 
their  sufferings  excited  little  commiseration,  but  the  moment  the’ 
persecution  began  to  reach  the  rich,  it  excited  their  alarm  and 
means  were  found  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  except  when  it  had  some 
ulterior  object  which  it  was  the  interest  of  those  in  power  to 
pursue.  1 


372 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

SIR  MATTHEW  HALE  AND  CHIEF-JUSTICE  HOLT. 

On  the  tenth  of  March,  1664,  there  was  a  remarkable  trial  of 
witches  at  Bury  St.  Edmonds,  in  Suffolk,  the  scene  of  the  la¬ 
bors  of  Matthew  Hopkins  nearly  twenty  years  before.  The 
victims  were  two  poor  widows  of  Lowestoff,  who  appear  to  have 
obtained  a  living  by  performing  a  number  of  menial  offices  for 
their  neighbors.  One  of  the  chief  witnesses  was  a  woman  of 
the  same  town,  named  Dorothy  Durent,  who  deposed  that,  about 
five  or  six  years  before,  she  had  employed  Amy  Duny,  one  of 
the  prisoners,  to  nurse  her  infant  child  while  she  went  out  of 
the  house  about  her  affairs,  and  that  on  her  return  she  quarrelled 
Avith  her  for  having  acted  contrary  to  her  directions,  upon  which 
Amy  Duny  went  away  in  anger,  uttering  “  many  high  expres¬ 
sions  and  threatening  speeches.”  The  same  night  her  child 
Avas  seized  with  strange  and  dangerous  fits.  “  And  the  said  ex¬ 
aminant  further  said,  that  she  being  exceedingly  troubled  at  her 
child’s  distemper,  did  go  to  a  certain  person  named  Doctor  Job 
Jacob,  who  lived  at  Yarmouth,  who  had  the  reputation  in  the 
country  to  help  children  that  were  bewitched  ;  who  advised  her 
to  hang  up  the  child’s  blanket  in  the  chimney-corner  all  day, 
and  at  night,  when  she  put  the  child  to  bed,  to  put  it  into  the 
said  blanket  ;  and  if  she  found  anything  in  it  she  should  not  be 
afraid,  but  to  throw  it  into  the  fire.  And  this  deponent  did  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  direction,  and  at  night,  when  she  took  down  the 
blanket  with  an  intent  to  put  her  child  therein,  there  fell  out  of 
the  same  a  great  toad,  Avhich  ran  up  and  down  the  hearth,  and 
she  having  a  young  youth  only  with  her  in  the  house,  desired 
him  to  catch  the  toad  and  throw  it  into  the  fire,  which  the  youth 
did  accordingly,  and  held  it  there  with  the  tongs  ;  and  as  soon 
as  it  Avas  in  the  fire,  it  made  a  great  and  horrible  noise,  and  after 
a  space  there  Avas  a  flashing  in  the  fire  like  gunpoAvder,  making 
a  noise  like  the  discharge  of  a  pistol,  and  thereupon  the  toad 
was  no  more  seen  nor  heard.  It  Avas  asked  by  the  court,  if  that 
after  the  noise  and  flashing  there  Avas  not  the  substance  of  the 
toad  to  be  seen  to  consume  in  the  fire  ;  and  it  was  ansAvered  by 
the  said  Dorothy  Durent,  that  after  the  flashing  and  noise,  there 


THE  WITCHES  OF  LOWESTOFF. 


373 


was  no  more  seen  than  if  there  had  been  none  there.  The  next 
day  there  came  a  young  woman,  a  kinswoman  of  the  said  Amy 
and  a  neighbor  of  this  deponent,  and  told  this  deponent  that  her 
aunt  (meaning  the  said  Amy)  was  in  a  most  lamentable  condi¬ 
tion,  having  her  face  all  scorched  with  fire,  and  that  she  was 
sitting  alone  in  her  house,  in  her  smock,  without  any  fire.  And 
thereupon  this  deponent  went  into  the  house  of  the  said  Amy 
Duny  to  see  her,  and  found  her  in  the  same  condition  as  was 
related  to  her,  for  her  face,  her  legs,  and  thighs,  which  this  de¬ 
ponent  saw,  seemed  very  much  scorched  and  burnt  with  fire,  at 
which  this  deponent  seemed  much  to  wonder,  and  asked  the 
said  Amy  how  she  came  into  that  sad  condition  ;  and  the  said 
Amy  replied  that  she  might  thank  her  for  it,  for  that  she  this 
deponent,  was  the  cause  thereof,  but  that  she  should  live  to  see 
some  ol  her  children  dead,  and  she  upon  crutches.  And  this 
deponent  further  saith,  that  after  the  burning  of  the  said  toad  her 

c  ,  recovered,  and  was  well  again,  and  was  living  at  the  time 
of  the  assizes.” 

Subsequent  to  these  new  threats,  another  child  of  Dorothy 
fJurent  was  taken  ill  and  died,  and  she  herself  was  seized  with  a 
tameness  in  her  legs,  inconsequence  of  which  she  had  remained 
a  cripple  ever  since. 

1  he  next  offence  laid  to  the  charge  of  Amy  Duny  was  the  be¬ 
witching  of  the  children  of  Samuel  Pacy,  a  merchant  of  Lowes- 
°  ,  who  “  carried  himself  with  much  soberness  during  the 
rial.  I  his  man  deposed  “  that  his  younger  daughter,  Debo¬ 
rah,  upon  Thursday  the  tenth  of  October  last,  was  suddenly 
taken  with  a  lameness  in  her  legs,  so  that  she  could  not  stand, 
neither  had  she  any  strength  in  her  limbs  to  support  her,  and  so 
she  continued  until  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  same  month,  which 
day  being  fair  and  sunshiny,  the  child  desired  to  be  carried  on 
the  east  part  of  the  house,  to  be  set  upon  the  bank  which  look- 
eth  upon  the  sea;  and  while  she  was  sitting  there,  Amy  Duny 
came  to  this  deponent’s  to  buy  some  herrings,  but  being  denied, 
she  went  away  discontented,  and  presently  returned  again,  and 
was  denied,  and  likewise  the  third  time,  and  was  denied  as  at 
first  ;  and  at  her  last  going  away,  she  went  away  grumbling,  but 
what  she  said  was  not  perfectly  understood.  But  at  the  very 
same  instant  of  time  the  said  child  was  taken  with  most  violent 
fits,  feeling  most  extreme  pain  in  her  stomach,  like  the  pricking 
ol  pins,  and  shrieking  out  in  a  most  dreadful  manner,  like  unto 
a  whelp,  and  not  like  unto  a  sensible  creature.  And  in  this  ex¬ 
tremity  the  child  continued,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  parents,  un- 

32 


374 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


til  the  thirtieth  of  the  same  month.  During  this  time  this  de¬ 
ponent  sent  for  one  Dr.  Feavor,  a  doctor  of  physic,  to  take  his 
advice  concerning  his  child’s  distemper.  The  doctor  being 
come,  he  saw  the  child  in  those  fits,  but  could  not  conjecture 
(as  he  then  told  this  deponent,  and  afterward  he  affirmed  in  open 
court  at  this  trial)  what  might  be  the  cause  of  the  child’s  afflic- 
tion.  And  this  deponent  further  saith,  that  by  reason  of  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  aforesaid,  and  in  regard  Amy  Duny  is  a  woman  of 
an  ill  fame,  and  commonly  reported  to  be  a  witch  and  a  sorcer¬ 
ess,  and  for  that  tins  said  child  in  her  fits  would  cry  out  of  Amy 
Duny  as  the  cause  of  her  malady,  and  that  she  did  affright  her 
with  apparitions  of  her  person  (as  the  child  in  the  interval  of 
her  fits  related),  he,  this  deponent,  did  suspect  the  said  Amy 
Duny  for  a  witch,  and  charged  her  with  the  injury  and  wrong 
to  his  child,  and  caused  her  to  be  set  in  the  stocks  on  the  twen¬ 
ty-eighth  of  the  same  October  ;  and  during  the  time  of  her  con¬ 
tinuance  there,  one  Alice  Letteridge  and  Jane  Buxton  demanded 
of  her  (as  they  also  affirmed  in  court  upon  their  oaths)  what 
should  be  the  reason  of  Mr.  Pacy’s  child’s  distemper,  telling  her 
that  she  was  suspected  to  be  the  cause  thereof.  She  replied, 
‘  Mr.  Pacy  keeps  a  great  stir  about  his  child,  but  let  him  stay 
until  he  hath  done  as  much  by  his  children  as  I  have  done  by 
mine.’  And  being  further  examined  what  she  had  done  to  her 
children,  she  answered  that  she  had  been  fain  to  open  her  child’s 
mouth  with  a  tap  to  give  it  victuals.  And  the  said  deponent 
further  deposeth,  that  within  two  days  after  speaking  of  the  said 
words,  being  the  thirtieth  of  October,  his  eldest  daughter  Eliza¬ 
beth  fell  into  extreme  fits,  inasmuch  that  they  could  not  open 
her  mouth  to  give  her  broth  to  preserve  her  life  without  the  help 
of  a  tap,  which  they  were  enforced  to  use  ;  and  the  younger 
child  was  in  like  manner  afflicted,  so  that  they  used  the  same 
also  for  her  relief.” 

The  children  were  now  continually  visited  with  fits,  similar 
to  other  supposed  sufferers  from  witchcraft,  including  the  vom¬ 
iting  of  crooked  pins,  nails,  &c.,  aud  the  spasmodic  trances,  in 
the  latter  of  which  they  were  in  the  habit  of  crying  out  against 
various  women  of  ill-repute  in  the  town,  who,  they  said,  were 
present  tormenting  them,  but  more  especially  against  Amy  Duny 
and  the  other  prisoner,  whose  name  was  Rose  Cullender.  The 
children  declared  that  these  two  women  appeared  to  them  some¬ 
times  in  the  act  of  spinning,  and  at  other  times  in  a  variety  of 
postures,  threatening  and  mocking  them.  A  friend  of  the  family 
appeared  in  court  as  an  independent  witness,  and  deposed,  that 


ROSE  CULLENDER. 


375 


Poser7llSen!Ce  “  *eAchiId™n  wo^d  in  their  fits  cry  out  against 

fnd  thev  h  7  Amy  Dun}>  affirminS  lhat  they  saw  them  ; 
ami  they  threatened  to  torment  them  ten  times  more  if  thev  com¬ 
plained  of  them.  At  some  times  the  children  (only)  would  see 
,  nngs  run  up  and  down  the  house  in  the  appearance  of  mice  • 
it  him etRf  8ud1de.nly  snaPPed  one  with  the  tongs,  and  threw 
time  thf6  6’  anJi  m  f reeched  out  like  a  bat.  At  another 
to  tal-e  !  ,  chl.  d  be]ng  out  of  her  fits,  went  out  of  doors 

to  take  a  little  fresh  air,  and  presently  a  little  thing  like  a  bee 

uir  ber  facevand  would  have  gone  into  her  mouth,  where- 

a h!ld  ran  m.a11  haste  t0  tbe  door  to  get  into  the  house 
again,  shrieking  out  m  a  most  terrible  manner;  whereupon  this 

wThe  r^V naS-te  to1coine  t0  her>  but  before  she  could  get  to 
’  tbe  chlld.  feI1  mto  her  swooning  fit,  and  at  last,  with  much 

abroad  b p ° "  a  ^  vomited  UP  a  twopenny  nail  with 

came  l  1  5  *?d  .that  the  child  had  raised  up  the  nail  she 

came  to  her  understanding,  and  being  demanded  by  this  depo- 

1  }  f°Wi  S  16  came  by  this  nail,  she  answered  that  the  bee 

rne?l  u  nai  f°rCed  h  int°  her  m°uth.  And  at  other 

lines  die  elder  child  declared  unto  this  deponent  that  during  the 

ime  of  her  fits,  she  saw  flies  come  unto  her,  and  bring  with 

declalV  bir  mouths,  ^ evoked  pins  ;  and  after  the  child  had  thus 
ernared  the  same,  she  fell  again  into  violent  fits,  and  afterward 
raised  several  pins.  At  another  time  the  said  elder  child  de¬ 
clared  unto  this  deponent,  and  sitting  by  the  fire  suddenly  started 
up  and  said  she  saw  a  mouse,  and  she  crept  under  the  table 
king  after  it,  and  at  length  she  put  something  in  her  apron 
saying  she  had  caught  it ;  and  immediately  she  ran  to  the  fire 

1ai?d  ^  !n’  and  there  did  appear  upon  it  to  this  deponent, 

like  the  flashing  of  gunpowder,  though  she  confessed  she  saw 
nothing  m  the  child  s  hands.” 

Another  person  bewitched  was  a  servant-girl  named  Susan 
C  landler,  whose  mother,  besides  deposing  to  the  discovery  of 
Satan  s  marks  on  the  body  of  one  of  the  witches,  said,  “  that  her 
said  daughter  being  of  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  was  then  in 
service  in  the  said  town,  aud  rising  up  early  the  next  morning 
to  wash,  this  Rose  Cullender  appeared  to  her,  and  took  her  by 
the  hand,  whereat  she  was  much  affrighted,  and  went  forthwith 
to  her  mother  (being  in  the  same  town),  and  acquainted  her  with 
what  she  had  seen;  but  being  extremely  terrified,  she  fell  ex¬ 
treme  sick  much  grieved  at  her  stomach,  and  that  night,  after 
being  in  bed  with  another  young  woman,  she  suddenly  shrieked 
out,  and  fell  into  such  extreme  fits  as  if  she  were  distracted,  cry- 


376 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


ing  against  Rose  Cullender,  saying  she  would  come  to  bed  to 
her.  She  continued  in  this  manner  beating  and  wearing  herself, 
insomuch  that  this  deponent  was  glad  to  get  help  to  attend  her. 
In  her  intervals  she  would  declare  that  sometimes  she  saw  Rose 
Cullender  alone,  at  another  time  with  a  great  dog  with  her ;  she 
also  vomited  up  divers  crooked  pins  ;  and  sometimes  she  was 
stricken  with  blindness,  and  at  another  time  she  was  dumb,  and 
so  she  appeared  to  be  in  court  when  the  trial  of  the  prisoners 
was,  for  she  was  not  able  to  speak  her  knowledge  ;  but  being 
brought  into  court  at  the  trial,  she  suddenly  fell  into  her  fits,  and 
being  carried  out  of  the  court  again,  within  the  space  of  half  an 
liour  she  came  to  herself  and  recovered  her  speech,  and  there¬ 
upon  was  immediately  brought  into  the  court,  and  asked  by  the 
court  whether  she  was  in  condition  to  take  an  oath,  and  to  give 
evidence.  She  said  she  could.  But  when  she  was  sworn,  and 
asked  what  she  could  say  against  either  of  the  prisoners,  before 
she  could  make  any  answer  she  fell  into  her  fits,  shrieking  out  in 
a  miserable  manner,  crying,  ‘  Burn  her,  burn  her !’  which  was 
all  the  words  she  could  speak.” 

Such  was  the  evidence  against  the  two  miserable  women 
dragged  before  the  court  as  prisoners  ;  and  the  barrister  who  ad¬ 
vocated  their  cause  earnestly  pleaded  its  insufficiency  as  the 
mere  effect  of  the  imaginations  of  the  persons  aggrieved,  which 
was  supported  by  no  direct  and  substantial  evidence  fixing  the 
crime  on  the  two  persons  accused,  even  supposing  that  the  accu¬ 
sers  had  really  been  bewitched.  The  celebrated  Sir  Thomas 
Brown  was  next  brought  forward  in  court,  and  on  being  asked 
what  he  thought  of  the  case,  declared  that  “  he  was  clearly  of 
opinion  that  the  persons  were  bewitched,”  with  some  further  re¬ 
marks,  which  appear  strange  as  coming  from  the  mouth  of  the 
great  exposer  of  “  vulgar  errors.” 

Doubts  still  existed  among  some  of  those  who  were  present  in 
court,  and  they  attempted  to  dispel  these  by  a  practical  experi¬ 
ment.  “  At  first,  during  the  time  of  the  trial,  there  were  some 
experiments  made  with  the  persons  afflicted,  by  bringing  the  per¬ 
sons  to  touch  them  ;  and  it  was  observed,  that  when  they  were 
in  the  midst  of  their  fits,  to  all  men’s  apprehension  wholly  de¬ 
prived  of  all  sense  and  understanding,  closing  their  fists  in  such 
a  manner  as  that  the  strongest  man  in  the  court  could  not  force 
them  open,  yet  by  the  least  touch  of  one  of  those  supposed  witch¬ 
es,  Rose  Cullender  by  name,  they  would  suddenly  shriek  out, 
opening  their  hands,  which  accident  would  not  happen  by  the 
touch  of  any  other  person.  And  lest  they  might  privately  see 


PRACTICAL  EXPERIMENTS. 


377 


when  they  were  touched  by  the  said  Rose  Cullender,  they  were 
blinded  with  their  own  aprons,  and  the  touching  took  the  same 
effect  as  before.  There  was  an  ingenious  person  that  objected 
leie  might  be  a  great  lallacy  in  this  experiment,  and  there  ouo-ht 
not  to  be  any  stress  put  upon  this  to  convict  the  parties,  for  the 
children  might  counterleit  this  their  distemper,  and  perceiving 
what  was  done  to  them,  they  might  in  such  manner  suddenly 
alter  the  motion  and  gesture  of  their  bodies,  on  purpose  to  in¬ 
duce  persons  to  believe  that  they  were  not  natural,  but  wrouoht 
strangely  by  the  touch  of  the  prisoners.  Wherefore  to  avoid 
this  scruple,  it  was  privately  desired  by  the  judge  that  the  Lord 
Cornwallis,  Sir  Edmund  Bacon,  and  Mr.  Serjeant  Keelino-  and 
some  other  gentlemen  there  in  court,  would  attend  one  of  the  dis 
tempered  persons  in  the  farthest  part  of  the  hall,  while  she  was 
m  her  tits,  and  then  send  for  one  of  the  witches,  to  try  what 
would  then  happen,  which  they  did  accordingly  ;  and  Amy  Dunv 
was  conveyed  from  the  bar  and  brought  to  the  maid ;  they  put  an 
apron  before  her  eyes,  and  then  one  other  person  touched  her 
hand,  which  produced  the  same  effect  as  the  touch  of  the  witch 
did  in  the  court.  Whereupon  the  gentlemen  returned,  openly 
protesting  that  they  did  believe  the  whole  transaction  of  this  busi¬ 
ness  was  a  mere  imposture.  This  put  the  court  and  all  persons 
into  a  stand  ;  but  at  length  Mr.  Pacy  did  declare,  that  possibly 
the  maid  might  be  deceived  by  a  suspicion  that  the  witch  touched 
her  when  she  did  not.  For  he  had  observed  divers  times,  that 
although  they  could  not  speak,  but  were  deprived  of  the  use  of 
their  tongues  and  limbs,  that  their  understandings  were  perfect 
lor  that  they  have  related  divers  things  which  have  been  when 
they  were  in  their  fits,  after  they  were  recovered  out  of  them.” 

isappomted  in  this  experiment,  the  accusers  now  brouoht 
lorward  some  other  evidence  to  prove  the  character  of  the  pris¬ 
oners,  the  principal  of  which  was  “  one  John  Soam,  of  Lowe¬ 
stoft,  yeoman,  a  sufficient  person,”  who  deposed,  “  That  not  Iona 
since,  in  harvest-time,  he  had  three  carts  which  brought  home 
lus  harvest,  and  as  they  were  going  into  the  field  to  load,  one  of 
the  carts  wrenched  the  window  of  Rose  Cullender’s  house  where¬ 
upon  she  came  out  in  a  great  rage  and  threatened  this  deponent 
for  doing  that  wrong,  and  so  they  passed  along  into  the  fields 
and  loaded  all  the  three  carts,  the  other  two  carts  returned  safe 
home,  and  back  again,  twice  loaded  that  day  afterward  ;  but  as 
to  this  cait  which  touched  Rose  Cullender’s  house,  after  it  was 
loaded  it  was  overturned  twice  or  thrice  that  day  ;  and  after  that 
they  had  loaded  it  again  this  second  or  third  time,  as  they  brought 

32* 


373 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


it  through  the  gate  which  leadeth  out  of  the  field  into  the  town, 
the  cart  stuck  so  fast  in  the  gatestead,  that  they  could  not  possi¬ 
bly  get  it  through,  but  were  enforced  to  cut  down  the  post  of  the 
gate  to  make  the  cart  pass  through,  although  they  could  not  per¬ 
ceive  that  the  cart  did  of  either  side  touch  the  gate-post.  And 
this  deponent  further  said,  that  after  they  had  got  it  through  the 
gateway,  they  did  with  much  difficulty  get  it  home  into  the  yard ; 
but  for  all  that  they  could  do,  they  could  not  get  the  cart  near 
into  the  place  where  they  should  unload  the  corn,  but  were  fain 
to  unload  it  at  a  great  distance  from  the  place  ;  and  when  they 
began  to  unload,  they  found  much  difficulty  therein,  it  being  so 
hard  a  labor  that  they  were  tired  that  first  came  ;  and  when  oth¬ 
ers  came  to  assist  them,  their  noses  burst  forth  a  bleeding  ;  so 
they  were  fain  to  desist,  and  leave  it  until  the  next  morning,  and 
then  they  unloaded  it  without  any  difficulty  at  all.  Robert  Sher- 
ringham  also  deposetli  against  Rose  Cullender,  that  about  two 
years  since,  passing  along  the  street  with  his  cart  and  horses, 
the  axle-tree  of  his  cart  touched  her  house,  and  broke  down  some 
part  of  it,  at  which  she  was  very  much  displeased,  threatening 
him  that  his  horses  should  suffer  for  it,  and  so  it  happened,  for 
all  those  horses,  being  four  in  number,  died  within  a  short  time 
after  ;  since  that  time  he  hath  had  great  losses  by  sudden  dying 
of  his  other  cattle  ;  so  soon  as  his  sows  pigged,  the  pigs  would 
leap  and  caper,  and  immediately  fall  down  and  die.  Also,  not 
long  after,  he  was  taken  with  a  lameness  in  his  limbs  that  he 
could  neither  go  nor  stand  for  some  days.  After  all  this,  he  was 
very  much  vexed  with  a  great  number  of  lice  of  an  extraordina¬ 
ry  bigness,  and  although  he  many  times  shifted  himself,  yet  he 
was  not  anything  the  better,  but  would  swarm  again  with  them  ; 
so  that  in  the  conclusion  he  was  forced  to  burn  all  his  clothes, 
being  two  suits  of  apparel,  and  then  was  clean  from  them.” 

This  was  the  kind  of  evidence  brought  forward  in  a  public 
couri  of  justice  in  the  year  1664,  in  a  trial  which  has  obtained 
especial  celebrity  from  the  circumstance  that  the  lord-chief-baron 
who  presided  over  it  was  the  great  lawyer,  Sir  Matthew  Hale. 
Yet  even  he  was  not  exempt  from  the  superstitious  feeling  of  his 
own  age,  and  the  cautiously-worded  declaration  in  his  charge  to 
the  jury:  “That  there  were  such  creatures  as  witches  he  made 
no  doubt  at  all ;  for  first,  the  Scriptures  had  affirmed  so  much  ; 
secondly,  the  wisdom  of  all  nations  had  provided  laws  against 
such  persons,  which  is  an  argument  of  their  confidence  of  such 
a  crime,  and  such  hath  been  the  judgment  of  this  kingdom,  as 
appears  by  that  act  of  parliament  which  hath  provided  punish- 


JUDGMENT  OF  SIR  MATTHEW  HALE. 


ments  proportionable  to  the  quality  of  the  offence”— was  consid- 
ered  as  a  public  declaration  of  the  judge’s  opinion  in  favor  of  the 

in  delTbet-q J?r0secut;i ons •  jury  retired,  passed  half  an  hour 

i  deliberation,  and  returned  with  a  unanimous  verdict  against 

the  prisoners.  Sir  Matthew  Hale  interfered  no  further,  but  pro¬ 
ceeded  on  his  circuit ;  and  the  two  poor  widows  of  LowestofF 
Avere  hanged  on  the  following  Monday.  They  persisted  to  the 
last  in  asserting  their  innocence. 

The  trial  before  Sir  Matthew  Hale  had  a  great  influence  in 
increasing  the  number  of  trials  for  the  crime  of  sorcery  under 

the  first°tTh0n’  fthoi,fh.th<?  return  of  the  Stuarts  seemed  from 
the  first  to  have  brought  back  some  of  the  spirit  which  had  been 

throne  1 A  a1^  tlie  ol  their  race  who  came  to  the 
hi  one.  Among  other  rather  ridiculous  cases,  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  instance  that  of  Julian  Coxe,  a  wretched  old  woman,  who,  m 
the  preceding  year,  had  been  convicted  and  hanged  at  Taunton 
m  Somersetshire,  on  the  evidence  of  a  huntsman,  who  declared 
that,  having  given  chase  to  a  hare,  it  was  lost  in  a  bush,  and  that 
on  examining  the  spot,  he  found  on  the  other  side  of  the  bush 
us  woman  in  such  an  attitude  and  condition  as  convinced  him 
that  he  had  been  hunting  a  witch  who  had  taken  the  opportu- 
m  .y  of  the  shelter  afforded  by  the  bush  to  regain  her  own  shape. 
In  the  same  year  that  witnessed  the  trial  before  Sir  Matthew 
ale  at  Bury,  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Somersetshire,  named 
Hunt,  was  ambitious  of  becoming  another  witchfinder-general 
and  had  already  put  twelve  persons  under  arrest,  when  a  stop’ 
was  put  on  his  proceedings  by  the  interference  of  a  higher  au¬ 
thority.  In  1679,  a  witch  condemned  at  Ely  was  saved  by  a 
lepneve  from  the  king,  and  her  accuser  is  said  to  have  subse¬ 
quently  avowed  his  imposture,  yet  three  years  afterward  the 
city  of  Exeter  witnessed  the  execution  of  three  witches  under 

cliarCTestanCeS  WG  ^  calculated  to  expose  the  absurdity  of  such 


Seaport  towns  appear  to  have  been  rather  frequently  the 
haunts  of  witches,  and  the  scenes  of  some  of  their  more  extra¬ 
ordinary  operations.  At  the  town  of  Biddeford,  on  the  coast  of 
Devon,  dwelt  three  women,  named  Temperance  Lloyd  Mary 
Trembles,  and  Susanna  Edwards,  who  seem  to  have  enjoyed  a 
character  similar  to  that  of  Amy  Duny  and  Rose  Cullender  at 
Lowestoft,  and  they  were  arrested  and  carried  prisoners  to  Ex¬ 
eter  in  the  summer  of  1682.  One  of  the  persons  who  accused 
them  was  a  mariner’s  wife  named  Dorcas  Coleman,  who  said 
that  in  the  year  1680  she  had  been  taken  with“  tormenting  pains 


380 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


by  prickling  in  her  arms,  stomach,  and  heart,  in  such  a  manner 
as  she  was  never  taken  so  before.”  She  applied  to  one  Doctor 
Beare,  a  professed  physician,  who  told  her  it  was  past  his  skill 
to  save  her,  inasmuch  as  she  was  bewitched.  We  thus  see, 
what  has  indeed  occurred  often  before,  how  unskilful  physi¬ 
cians,  in  the  attempt  to  conceal  their  own  ignorance,  added  to  and 
strengthened  the  prejudices  of  the  vulgar.  Dorcas  Coleman  had 
no  suspicion  of  the  person  that  had  bewitched  her,  until  Susan¬ 
na  Edwards  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  then  she  went  to  her 
to  ask  if  she  were  her  persecutor,  and  received  an  answer  in 
the  affirmative.  Another  woman  of  Biddeford,  named  Grace 
Thomas,  was  attacked  somewhat  in  the  same  manner,  and  de¬ 
clared  that  as  soon  as  Temperance  Lloyd  was  committed  to 
prison,  she  “  immediately  felt  her  pricking  and  sticking  pains  to 
cease  and  abate.”  Upon  this  one  of  the  friends  of  Grace  Thom¬ 
as  “  did  demand  of  the  said  Temperance  Lloyd  whether  she 
had  any  wax  or  clay  in  the  form  of  a  picture  whereby  she  had 
pricked  and  tormented  the  said  Grace  Thomas ;  unto  which  the 
said  Temperance  made  answer,  that  she  had  no  wax  nor  clay, 
but  confessed  that  she  had  only  a  piece  of  leather  which  she 
had  pricked  nine  times.”  Temperance  Lloyd  was  searched, 
and  they  found  on  her  body  two  “  teats,”  which  she  confessed 
had  been  sucked  by  “  the  black  man  ;”  and  one  of  the  searchers, 
who  was  an  acquaintance  of  the  accused,  declared  that  on  the 
morning  of  the  preceding  Thursday,  “  she,  this  informant,  did 
see  something  in  the  shape  of  a  magpie  to  come  at  the  chamber 
window  where  the  said  Grace  Thomas  did  lodge.  Upon  which 
this  informant  did  demand  of  the  said  Temperance  Lloyd 
whether  she  did  know  of  any  bird  to  come  and  flutter  at  the 
said  window  ;  unto  which  question  the  said  Temperance  did 
then  say  that  it  was  the  black  man  in  the  shape  of  the  bird.” 
Having  obtained  thus  much  of  foundation  to  build  upon,  the  ac¬ 
count  of  the  black  man  was  soon  amplified,  and  “  being  demand¬ 
ed  of  what  stature  the  said  black  man  was,”  she  was  prevailed 
upon  to  describe  him  as  being  “  about  the  length  of  her  arm  ; 
and  that  his  eyes  were  very  big  ;  and  that  he  hopped  or  leaped 
in  the  way  before  her.”  The  very  picthre,  in  fact,  of  a  “puck” 
or  hobgoblin. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  enter  further  into  the  rather  nume¬ 
rous  depositions  made  on  this  occasion.  A  piece  of  leather  was 
found,  in  which  the  prosecutors  and  judges  “  conceived  there 
might  be  some  enchantment ;”  a  child’s  doll  was  also  produced, 
which  it  was  further  imagined  might  have  been  pricked  with 


THE  TRIALS  AT  EXETER. 


381 


pins  ;  it  was  deposed  that  Temperance  Lloyd  had  appeared  in 
tie  form  of  a  red  pig  to  a  woman  while  she  was  brewing;  and 
upon  this  evidence,  and  more  of  the  same  description,  the  three 
women  were  convicted  by  the  jury,  and  they  were  all  hanged  at 
Lxeter.  When  these  wretched  women  were  on  the  scaffold 
they  were  again  tormented  with  questions,  and  returned  such 
answers  as  might  be  expected  from  persons  in  a  condition  that 
they  hardly  knew  what  they  were  asked  or  what  they  said  in 
reply.  Among  other  things,  Temperance  Lloyd  was  asked, 

‘  How  dld  you  come  in  to  hurt  Mrs.  Grace  Thomas  ?  did  you 
pass  through  the  keyhole  of  the  door,  or  was  the  door  open  ? 

“  Temp.  The  devil  did  lead  me  up-stairs,  and  the  door  was 
open  ;  and  this  is  all  the  hurt  I  did. 

“  Q.  How  do  you  know  it  was  the  devil  ? 

“  Temp.  I  knew  it  by  his  eyes. 

“  Q.  Had  you  no  discourse  or  treaty  with  him  1 
Temp.  No  ;  he  said  I  should  go  along  with  him  to  destroy 
a  woman,  and  I  told  him  I  would  not ;  he  said  he  would  make 
me ;  and  then  the  devil  beat  me  about  the  head. 

“  Q.  Why  had  you  not  called  upon  God  ? 

*'  Temp.  He  would  not  let  me  do  it. 

“  Q.  1  ou  say  you  never  hurt  ships  nor  boats — did  you  never 
ride  over  an  arm  of  the  sea  on  a  cow  ? 

Temp.  No,  no,  master,  ’twas  she”  ( meaning  Susan). 

Another  interrogator,  equally  unfeeling,  closed  the  scene  tvith 
asking  the  victim  if  she  had  never  seen  the  devil  but  once. 

Temp.  \  es,  once  before  ;  I  was  going  for  brooms,  and  he 
came  to  me  and  said,  ‘  that  poor  woman  has  a  great  burthen,’ 
and  would  help  and  ease  me  of  my  burthen  ;  and  I  said,  ‘  the 
Lord  had  enabled  me  to  carry  it  so  far,  and  I  hope  I  shall  be 
able  to  carry  it  further.’ 

“  Q-  Did  the  devil  never  promise  you  anything  ? 

“  Temp.  No,  never. 

“  Q.  Then  you  have  served  a  very  bad  master,  who  gave  you 
nothing.  Well,  consider  you  are  just  departing  from  this  world  • 
do  you  believe  there  is  a  God  ? 

“  Temp.  Yes. 

“  Q.  Do  you  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  ? 

“  Temp.  Yes  ;  and  I  pray  Jesus  Christ  to  pardon  all  my  sins. 
And  so  was  executed .” 

These  three  women  are  said  to  have  been  the  last  persons 
who  were  executed  in  England  for  the  crime  of  witchcraft.  A 
great  change  in  opinion  on  this  subject  was  now  taking  place 


382 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


in  tlie  minds  of  reflecting  people.  The  vice  of  the  court  of 
Charles  II.  was  skepticism  rather  than  credulity,  and  although 
bigotry  and  superstition  again  appeared  under  the  influence  of 
his  brother,  their  reign  was  of  short  duration.  Two  books  were 
published  during  this  period  which  certainly  had  some  influence 
in  breaking  the  strength  of  the  popular  prejudice  on  the  subject. 
The  first  of  these  was  a  small  volume  by  a  gentleman  of  educa¬ 
tion  named  John  Wagstafle,  which  appeared  in  1669,  under  the 
title  of  “  The  Question  of  Witchcraft  Debated.”  In  the  opening 
of  this  work  Wagstafle  expresses  in  strong  terms  his  horror  at 
the  multitudes  of  human  beings  who  had  been  during  so  many 
ages  sacrificed  to  “  this  idol,  Opinion  and  he  protests  against 
the  “  evil  and  base  custom  of  torturing  people  to  confess  them¬ 
selves  witches,  and  burning  them  after  extorted  confessions. 
Surely  the  blood  of  men  ought  not  to  be  so  cheap,  nor  so  easily 
to  be  shed  by  those  who,  under  the  name  of  God,  do  gratify  ex¬ 
orbitant  passions  and  selfish  ends  ;  for  without  question,  under 
this  side  heaven,  there  is  nothing  so  sacred  as  the  life  of  man, 
for  the  preservation  whereof  all  policies  and  forms  of  govern¬ 
ment,  all  laws  and  magistrates  are  most  especially  ordained.” 
Wagstaffe’s  book  was  replied  to  in  a  tone  of  flippant  self-suffi¬ 
ciency  by  Meric  Casaubon,  in  a  treatise  published  in  the  follow- 
ing  )^ear  under  the  title,  “  Of  Credulity  and  Incredulity  in 
Things  Divine  and  Spiritual.” 

A  still  greater  champion  soon  afterward  stepped  into  the  field 
of  controversy  thus  opened.  This  was  John  Webster,  a  native 
of  Lancashire,  the  same  whom  we  have  already  seen  in  his 
youth  opposing  in  vain  the  imposture  of  the  boy  Pendle.  Web¬ 
ster  had  lived,  a  careful  observer,  throughout  the  whole  period 
of  the  great  witchcraft  mania  in  England,  and  now  in  his  old 
age  he  published  his  matured  judgment  on  the  subject  w’hich  had 
so  long  agitated  men’s  minds,  under  the  title  which  at  once  in¬ 
dicated  the  view  he  took  of  it,  of  “  The  Displaying  of  supposed 
Witchcraft.”  This  stately  folio  appeared  in  the  year  1677,  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  of  its  having  made  a  strong  impression 
on  the  succeeding  generation.  Webster  attacked  with  all  the 
force  of  argument  and  wit  the  superstition  to  wffiich  so  many  vic¬ 
tims  had  been  sacrificed,  and  he  exposed  the  fallacies  by  which 
it  had  been  sustained.  He  made  no  concessions  to  public  opin¬ 
ion,  like  most  of  those  wTho  preceded  him  on  the  same  side  of 
the  question,  and  wrho  were  afraid  to  push  too  far  the  reasons  on 
which  they  rested  their  cause  ;  but  he  boldly  published  the 
opinion  that  witchcraft  was  nothing  but  a  vulgar  error,  and  that 


CHIEF-JUSTICE  HOLT. 


383 


a!l  the  instances  which  had  occurred  and  which  had  led  to  such 
a  earful  destruction  of  human  life,  were  founded  only  in  delib¬ 
erate  imposture,  in  statements  made  under  fear  of  torture  in 
mental  delusion,  or  in  natural  phenomena  which  were  easily 
explained  by  science  and  reason  without  the  necessity  of  calling 
in  supernatural  causes.  J  s 

Books  like  these  were  chiefly  calculated  to  influence  the  edu¬ 
cated  'part  of  society,  and  we  soon  perceive  their  effects  in  the 
course  of  justice.  After  the  revolution  of  ’eighty-eight,  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  strong  tendency  to  renew  the  persecution 
against  witches,  but  Sir  Matthew  Hale  had  been  succeeded  by  a 
judge  of  no  less  weight  and  talent,  who  was  in  this  respect  at  least 
more  enlightened— the  lord-chief-justice  Holt.  Three  women 
were  thrown  into  prison  in  1691  for  bewitching  a  person  near 
Jrrome,  m  Somersetshire,  of  whom  one  died  before  she  was 
brought  to  trial ;  but  the  other  two,  having  Chief-Justice  Holt  for 
their  judge,  were  acquitted.  This  case  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  check  put  upon  the  courts  of  law  ;  and  the  populace,  disap- 
pom  ed  of  what,  they  called  justice,  had  recourse,  without  appeal¬ 
ing  to  the  law,  to  the  old  popular  trial  of  swimming  the  persons 
suspected  of  which  there  were  numerous  instances  during  this 
and  the  following  year  in  the  counties  of  Essex,  Suffolk,  Cam¬ 
bridge,  and  Northampton.  Some  of  the  patients  died  under  the 
infliction.  The  scene  of  the  labors  of  Matthew  Hopkins  seems 
wmVe  ^tam,ed  lts  witch-persecuting  celebrity.  In  1693,  one 
WrIow  Chambers,  of  Upaston,  in  Suffolk,  who  is  described  by 
Hi.  Hutchinson  as  “a  diligent,  industrious,  poor  woman,”  died 
in  Ueccles  jail  in  consequence  of  the  treatment  she  had  expe¬ 
rienced.  She  had  been  walked  between  two  men,  according  to 
the  celebrated  plan  of  the  witch-finder  Hopkins,  and  was  thus 
drawn  to  confess  a  number  of  absurdities,  such  as  the  bewitching 
to  ceath  of  persons  who  were  then  living  and  in  good  health.  In 
the  year  following,  another  poor  woman  named  Mother  Munninas 
of  Hartis,  in  Suffolk,  was  tried  before  the  lord-chief-justice  Holt* 
at  Bury  St.  Edmunds;  many  things  were  deposed  concerning 
her,  such  as  spoiling  of  wort,  and  hurting  cattle,  and  it  was  sta- 
ted  that  several  persons  upon  their  death-beds  had  complained 
that  she  killed  them.  It  was  further  deposed,  that  her  landlord 
Thomas  I  ennel,  wishing  to  force  her  out  of  a  house  she  had  of 
him,  took  away  the  door,  and  left  her  without  one.  Some  time 
after,  she  said  to  him  as  he  passed  by  the  door,  “  Go  thy  way 
thy  nose  shall  lie  upward  in  the  churchyard  before  Saturday 
next.  On  the  Monday  following,  we  are  assured  he  sickened 


334 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  died  on  Tuesday,  and  was  buried  within  the  week,  accord¬ 
ing  to  her  word.  To  confirm  this,  it  was  added  by  another  wit¬ 
ness,  that  a  doctor  whom  they  had  consulted  about  an  alllicted 
person,  when  Mother  Munnings  was  mentioned,  said  she  was  a 
dangerous  woman,  for  she  could  “  touch  the  line  of  life.”  In  her 
indictment,  she  was  charged  with  having  an  imp  like  a  pole-cat ; 
and  one  witness  deposed,  that  coming  from  the  alehouse  about 
nine  at  night,  he  looked  in  at  her  window,  and  saw  her  take  out 
of  her  basket  two  imps,  one  black  the  other  white.  It  was  also 
deposed,  that  one  Sarah  Wager,  after  a  quarrel  with  this  woman, 
was  taken  dumb  and  lame,  and  was  in  that  condition  at  home  at 
the  time  of  the  trial.  Many  other  such  things  were  sworn,  but 
in  consequence  of  the  charge  from  the  judge,  the  jury  brought 
her  in  not  guilty.  Dr.  Hutchinson,  who  obtained  the  notes  of  this 
trial  through  Chief-Justice  Holt  himself,  adds  on  this  statement : 
“  Upon  particular  inquiry  of  several  in  or  near  the  town,  I  find 
most  are  satisfied  that  itwvas  a  very  right  judgment.  She  lived 
about  two  years  after,  without  doing  any  known  harm  to  anybody, 
and  died  declaring  her  innocence.  Her  landlord  was  a  consump¬ 
tive  spent  man,  and  the  words  not  exactly  as  they  swore  them, 
and  the  whole  thing  seventeen  years  before.  For  by  a  certificate 
from  the  register,  I  find  he  was  buried  June  20,  1667.  The 
white  imp  is  believed  to  have  been  a  lock  of  wool,  taken  out  of  her 
basket  to  spin,  and  its  shadow  it  is  supposed  was  the  black  one.” 

The  same  year,  a  woman  of  the  name  of  Margaret  Elmore 
was  tried  at  Ipswich  before  the  lord-chief-justice  Holt.  She  was 
accused  of  having  bewitched  one  Mrs.  Rudge  of  that  town,  who 
was  three  years  in  a  languishing  condition,  because,  as  it  was 
alleged,  Mr.  Rudge,  the  husband  of  the  afflicted  person,  had  re¬ 
fused  to  let  her  a  house.  Some  witnesses  said  that  Mrs.  Rudge 
was  better  upon  the  confinement  of  the  woman,  and  worse  again 
when  her  chains  were  off.  Other  witnesses  gave  an  account, 
that  her  grandmother  and  her  aunt  had  formerly  been  hanged  for 
witches,  and  that  her  grandmother  had  said  she  had  eight  or  nine 
imps,  and  that  she  had  given  two  or  three  imps  a  piece  to  her 
children.  This  grave  accusation  was  considered  to  be  fully  con¬ 
firmed,  when  a  midwife  who  had  searched  Margaret  Elmore’s 
grandmother,  who  had  been  hanged,  said,  this  woman  had  plain¬ 
er  marks  than  she.  Others  deposed  to  their  being  covered  with 
lice  after  quarrels  with  her.  But  notwithstanding  these  deposi¬ 
tions,  the  jury  brought  her  in  not  guilty,  “  and,”  says  Dr.  Hutch¬ 
inson,  “  though  I  have  made  particular  inquiry,  I  do  not  hear  of 
any  ill  consequence.” 


SATAN  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  38- 

girl  named  Philadelphia  Row.  It  was  deooSd  tha,^  ”P°n  “ 

anee  of  the  said  Mary  Gay  was  often  secS  by  t  ,e  g 

she  vomited,  dims  nr4iri  7  ^  ^  t-hdt 

depositions,  was  "Kh 

was  tried  before  the  same 

foi  bewitching  three  children  of  William  Bovet  nnP’nf  \696’ 
was  dead  It  was  deposed,  that  another  had  her TellwTste? 

WhyetThre°mh,1n  liail'IS  a"?  llnees  she  would  spring  five  ten 
.?"■  llle  children  vomited  pins,  and  were  bitten  fif  th  l 

s.tions  were  true),  and  pricked,  and  pi„Ted  he  n t?  P°‘ 

rngl  the  children  said,  kess 

her  body  and  go  mto  them  bellies;  the  mother  of  tlm  children 
Deposed,  that  one  of  them  walked  up  a  smooth  plastered  wall  to 
the  height  of  mne  feet,  her  head  standing  off  from  "  this  she 

held  her  up  This  do,  amlh,"Shed  aild  Bess  Horner 

!  1  er  'P-  1  .  s  poor  woman  had  something  like  a  ninnle  on 

iei  shoulder,  which  the  children  said  was  sucked  by  a  toad 

buM.L  her  l  ngf  1  uUlgS  Were  asserted  by  different  witnesses  • 

“and 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  DOINGS  OF  SATAN  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

As  Satan  found  that,  beaten  by  the  force  of  public  opinion  he 
was  losing  h.s  hold  on  the  mother-country,  he^eemed  resolved 
o  fix  a  firmer  grasp  upon  her  distant  colonies,  and  the  new  world 
presented  at  this  moment  a  scene  which  exemplifies  the  horrors 
and  the  absurdities  of  the  witchcraft-persecutions  more  than  any¬ 
thing  that  had  occurred  in  the  old  world.  ^ 

The  colony  of  Massachusetts  bay,  in  New  England,  was  essen- 
nally  a  religious— a  puritanical  settlement.  One  of  the  congrega¬ 
tions  of  the  English  presbyterians  who  sought  refuge  in  Holland 
rom  the  intolerance  of  James  I.,  finding  their  position  there  un- 
easy,  came  to  the  resolution  of  establishing  themselves  in  the 
wilds  ol  North  America,  where  they  could  worship  the  Almighty 
alter  their  own  convictions,  unseen  and  untroubled  by  those  who 

33 


386 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


differed  from  them.  They  made  arrangements  for  settling  in  the 
English  colony  of  Virginia,  and  set  sail  for  America  in  1618,  but 
carried  out  of  their  course  by  stress  of  weather  and  other  causes, 
they  arrived  on  a  coast  more  to  the  north,  on  which  no  settle¬ 
ment  had  hitherto  been  made.  In  the  last  days  of  the  year  they 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  first  town  in  New  England,  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  Plymouth.  They  formed  an  alliance  with 
an  Indian  chief  by  whom  this  territory  had  been  previously  occu¬ 
pied,  a  great  part  of  whose  tribe  had  been  carried  off  by  the 
small-pox,  and  who  was  glad  of  their  support  against  the  hostile 
tribes  of  Narragansets.  Several  other  settlements  were  subse- 
quently  attempted  on  this  coast,  but  the  settlers  were  ill-fitted  for 
amalgamating  with  the  puritans  of  New  Plymouth,  or  to  struggle 
with  the  difficulties  they  had  encountered,  and  they  therefore 
soon  abandoned  their  enterprise.  Under  Charles  I.,  the  religious 
emigration  from  England  was  greatly  increased,  and  the  old  set¬ 
tlers  on  these  distant  shores  were  soon  joined  by  multitudes  of 
friends  who  shared  in  their  principles  and  feelings.  Some  of 
these  founded,  in  1628,  the  town  of  Salem.  Soon  afterward 
Boston  was  founded,  which  became  at  once  the  principal  town 
of  Massachusetts  bay.  From  the  peculiar  constitution  of  this 
singular  colony,  it  became  as  intolerant  as  it  was  religious,  and 
its  earlier  history  presents  us  with  frequent  instances  of  persecu¬ 
tion  for  the  sake  of  conscientious  convictions.  Religious  discus¬ 
sions  here  took  the  place  of  political  disputes,  and  disturbed  from 
time  to  time  the  peace  of  the  infant  colony.  A  school  having 
been  founded  at  a  small  town  called  Newtown,  it  was  erected  in¬ 
to  a  university  in  1638,  and  named  Harvard  college,  from  a  pious 
minister  who  left  a  legacy  for  its  endowment,  and  the  name  of 
Newtown  was  changed  to  that  of  Cambridge,  in  memory  of  the 
celebrated  scholastic  establishment  in  the  mother-country.  One 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  New  England  ministers,  Eliott, 
labored  to  convert  the  Indians,  and  to  establish  more  intimate  and 
friendly  relations  with  them,  with  great  success,  and  his  example 
having  been  followed  by  many  others,  there  were,  in  1687,  no  less 
than  four-and-twenty  Indians  who  were  preachers  of  the  gospel 
among  their  countrymen.  Duringthe  period  of  the  protectorate,  the 
intolerant  spirit  of  the  colony  was  shown  in  the  persecution  of  sev¬ 
eral  anabaptists  who  had  settled  there.  This  was  followed  by  a 
much  more  severe  persecution  of  the  quakers.  The  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  was  a  period  of  trouble  for  the  colonists.  Many  per¬ 
ished  in  a  tierce  war  with  the  Indians,  although  the  latter  were 
entirely  defeated  and  reduced.  This  was  followed  by  vexatious 


SORCERY  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  387 

I11'  °f  the  Soyernment  of  the  mother-coun- 
n,  which  ended  in  the  seizure  of  their  charter.  In  1689  after 
the  accession  of  the  prince  of  Orange  to  the  English  throne  the 
chatter  was  restored,  or  rather  a  new  one  was  given  to  them ’and 
St  \\  ilham  Phipps  was  appointed  their  governor.  It  was  durum 
the  forfeiture  of  the  charter  that  the  following  events  commence/ 
It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  the  planters  of  New  England 
earned  wuh  them  all  the  supersti, ions'  feelings  which  had  been 
Nt]  n  ieir  biethren  in  England.  It  was  the  general  belief 
jthose  times  that  the  gods  or  idols  worshipped  by  the  heathens 
and  especially  by  the  Indians— were  demons,  and  that  they 
were  constantly  waging  war  with  the  Christian  professors  through 
16  '^'rumentahty  of  sorcery.  Some  of  the  old  doctors  in  de 
monedogy  were  of  opinion  that  the  devil  was  unable  to  work  evil 
f  P  ,he  Person®  or  property  of  Christians  unless  he  could  ob- 

connm  IT1' I"8-  t0  be  lHS  Wil,in*  agents,  and  in  this  way  they  ac¬ 
counted  for  Ins  eagerness  to  make  and  multiply  witches  h  was 

natural  enough  lor  men  placed  like  the  colonists  of  New  eZ 
Jand,  and  with  their  feelings,  to  believe  that  the  demon  who  had 
previously  held  undisturbed  possession  of  this  district  should  be 

hofnlT  oatl  6  PlartiM?  °r  the  in  it,  and  that  he  should  be 

Lect  in  flhbParTn,ri  SGt  bUt  'hey  VVero  a  select  body— 
lect  m  faith,  and  select  in  personal  attachment— and  thev  h  id 

no  enemies  among  themselves  who  were  likely  to  sell  themselves 

to  Satan  and  to  become  his  instruments  of  persecution  It  is  not 

surpnsing,  therefore,  if  during  the  first  half  century  after  the 

era  har  II  T7  '7  ^  °f  SUSPfiCting  *"7  one  of  witch- 

cialt  hardly  occurred  to  their  minds.  It  was  only  when  there 

were  more  people  of  a  miscellaneous  character  in  the  settlement 

Ot  the  Indians,  that  he  formed  the  more  insidious  design  of  over¬ 
throwing  it  by  a  confederation  of  witches.  g 

1645°UanTha!!Shhad  ^  cllar§'ed  with  witchcraft  in 

10  ’  and  had  been  executed;  but  this  single  case  made  no 

great  sensation,  and  the  crime  was  not  heard  of  again  for  many 
years  At  ength,  ,n  the  year  1688,  a  case  occurred  at  Bosto 7 
which  struck  the  colonists  with  no  little  dismay.  A  mason  of 

the  habTtnofnemef  ^  G°°dW,n’  H?ll°  had  s>'*  children,  was  in 
the  habU  of  employing  as  a  washerwoman  one  of  his  neighbor” 

named  Glover,  an  Irishwoman  and  a  papist,  neither  of  them  any 

gieat  recommendation  in  the  state  of  New  England.  About  the 

missed " °1  f  last-me",i(»ied,  some  linen  having  beer 
missed,  Goodwins  wile  accused  the  woman  of  theft,  on  wlncti 


338 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


she  became  angry  and  abusive,  and  used  cross  language  to  one 
of  the  children,  a  little  girl.  Immediately  afterward,  this  girl 
was  seized  with  tits  and  strange  afflictions,  which  soon  commu¬ 
nicated  themselves  to  three  of  her  sisters.  The  Irishwoman  fell 
under  suspicion,  and  was  arrested,  and  in  her  examination  she 
answered  so  incoherently,  and  with  such  a  strange  mixture  of 
Irish  and  broken  English,  that  she  was  soon  brought  in  guilty, 
and  the  solemnity  of  the  examination  and  execution  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  minds  of  the  people  of  Boston. 

There  were  in  that,  town  two  ministers  (father  and  son),  who, 
for  many  reasons,  held  a  distinguished  place  among  the  clergy 
of  New  England,  'and  their  opinions  were  looked  up  to  with  the 
utmost  respect.  These  were  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather,  the 
first  principal,  and  the  second  a  fellow  of  Harvard  college. 
These  men  seem  to  have  studied  deeply  the  doctrines  on  the 
subject  of  witchcraft  which  had  so  long  been  held  in  Europe, 
and  to  have  been  fully  convinced  of  their  truth.  Cotton  Mather 
was  called  in  to  witness  the  afflictions  with  which  Goodwin’s 
children  were  visited,  and  not  content  with  what  he  saw  there, 
he  took  the  girl  whose  visitations  seemed  most  extraordinary  to 
his  own  home,  that  he  might  examine  her  more  leisurely,  and  he 
has  left  us  a  printed  account  of  his  observations.  It  appears 
that  some  of  the  stories  of  European  witchcraft  had  been  im¬ 
pressed  on  her  mind,  for  when  in  her  fits  she  believed  that  the 
witches  came  for  her  with  a  horse  on  which  she  rode  to  their 
meetings.  Sometimes,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  persons, 
she  would  suddenly  fall  into  a  sort  of  trance,  and  then  she  would 
jump  into  a  chair,  and  placing  herself  in  a  riding  posture,  move 
as  ,if  she  were  successively  ambling,  trotting,  and  gallopping. 
At  the  same  time  she  would  talk  with  invisible  company,  that 
seemed  to  go  with  her,  and  she  would  listen  to  their  answers. 
After  continuing  in  this  way  two  or  three  minutes,  she  seemed 
to  think  herself  at  a  meeting  of  the  witches,  a  great  distance 
from  the  house  where  she  was  sitting;  then  she  would  return 
again  on  her  imaginary  horse,  and  come  to  herself  again  ;  and 
on  one  occasion  she  told  Cotton  Mather  of  three  persons  she 
had  seen  at  the  meeting.  Ur.  Mather’s  simplicity,  to  say  the 
least,  was  shown  by  the  sort  of  experiments  he  made  on  this 
fantastical  patient.  When  she  was  in  her  fits,  and  therefore 
under  the  influence  of  Satan,  she  read  or  listened  to  bad  books 
with  pleasure,  but  good  books  threw  her  into  convulsions.  He 
tried  her  with  the  Bible,  the  assembly’s  catechism,  his  grand- 
tather  Cotton  Mather’s  “  Milk  for  Babes,”  and  his  father  In- 


COTTON  MATHER. 


389 


crease  s  “  Remarkable  Providences,”  with  a  treatise  written  to 
prove  the  reality  of  witchcraft.,  and  the  existence  of  witches 
lhese  good  books,  Cotton  Mather  tells  us,  “  were  mortal  to 
her,  they  threw  her  into  trances  and  convulsions.  Next  he 
tried  her  with  books  of  a  ditlerent  character,  such  as  quakers’ 
books  (the  quakers  were  looked  upon  with  a  very  evil  eye  in 
New  England),  popish  books,  the  Cambridge  and  Oxford  Jests, 
a  prayer-book  (against  which  the  puritans  always  professed  the 
gieatest  hostility),  and  a  book  written  to  prove  that  there  were 
no  witches.  These  the  devil  let  her  read  as  long  as  she  liked, 
and  he  showed  particular  respect  to  the  prayer-book,  even  al¬ 
lowing  her  to  read  the  passages  of  scripture  in  it,  although  he 
threw  her  into  the  most  dreadful  sufferings  if  she  attempted  to 
read  the  same  texts  in  the  Bible. 

Dr.  Cotton  Mather  gave  the  world  a  full  account  of  this  case 
in  a  little  book  entitled,  “  Late  Memorable  Providences  relating 
to  Witchcraft  and  Possession,”  in  which  he  also  collected  to^ 
gether  a  few  other  cases  of  witchcraft  in  New  England,  which 
show  that  there  was  already  a  strong  excitement  abroad  on  the 
subject.  This  he  increased  by  repeating  to  the  colonists  the  de¬ 
tails  ot  the  trial  belore  Matthew  Hale  and  other  cases  which 
had  occurred  in  England  ;  and  further,  by  dispersing  among 
them  in  the  following  year,  with  a  warm  recommendation  of  its 
meiits,  Baxters  ‘“Certainly  of  the  World  of  Spirits,”  a  work 
Avedl  calculated  to  spread  the  terror  of  witchcraft. 

Theie  can  be  little  doubt  that  Cotton  Mather’s  zeal  in  spread¬ 
ing  abroad  the  doctrines  of  the  old  world  on  this  subject  contrib¬ 
uted  to  the  catastrophe  which  followed  in  the  new. 

A  Mr.  Paris  had  been  for  some  years  minister  of  Salem  vil¬ 
lage.  He  appears  to  have  been  on  indifferent  terms  with  his 
parishioners,  on  account  of  some  disputes  relating  to  the  house 
and  land  he  occupied  as  their  minister,  of  which  he  had  obtained 
a  gilt  in  fee-simple.  Toward  the  end  of  February  of  1692,  some 
young  persons  in  his  family,  and  some  others  of  their  neighbors, 
began  to  act  after  a  strange  manner,  creeping  into  holes  and  un¬ 
der  chairs  and  stools,  using  antic  gestures,  uttering  ridiculous 
speeches,  and  falling  into  fits.  The  physicians  were  consulted, 
but  they  were  unable  to  discover  the  nature  of  the  disorder,  or 
to  effect  a  cure,  and  they  declared  their  belief  that  they  were 
bewitched.^  .Mr.  Paris  had  an  Indian  man  and  woman — the  lat¬ 
ter  named  Tituba — as  servants  in  his  house,  and  they,  with  Mr. 
Paris  s  consent,  made  an  enchanted  cake,  according  to  the  cus¬ 
tom  ol  their  tribes,  and  this  being  given  to  a  dog  belonging  to 

33*  &  & 


390 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  family,  was  to  enable  the  persons  afflicted  to  declare  who 
had  bewitched  them.  The  result  was  that  they  accused  the  two 
Indians,  and  the  woman  confessed  herself  guilty,  and  was  thrown 
into  prison  :  she  was  subsequently  sold  to  pay  the  prison  fees. 
Several  private  fasts  were  now  held  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Paris, 
and  a  public  fast  was  directed  throughout  the  colony,  to  avert 
God’s  wrath. 

Being  visited  and  noticed,  the  children  and  others  afflicted 
proceeded  to  other  denunciations,  and  other  persons  exhibited 
similar  fits  and  contortions.  At  first  they  ventured  only  on  ac¬ 
cusing  poor  women,  who  were  of  ill-repute  in  the  place,  and 
they  talked  of  a  black  man  who  urged  them  to  sign  a  book, 
which  they  said  was  red,  very  thick,  and  about  a  cubit  long. 
They  were  gradually  encouraged  to  accuse  persons  of  a  more 
respectable  position  in  life,  and  among  the  first  of  these  were 
Good  wife  Cory  and  Goodwife  Nurse,  members  of  the  churches 
at  Salem  village  and  Salem  town.  On  the2Ist  of  March  Good- 
wife  Cory  was  subjected  to  a  solemn  examination  in  the  meet¬ 
ing-house  of  the  village.  Ten  afflicted  persons  accused  her  of 
tormenting  them.  They  said  that  in  their  fits  they  saw  her  like¬ 
ness  coming  with  a  book  for  them  to  sign.  She  earnestly  as¬ 
serted  her  innocence,  and  represented  that  they  were  poor  dis¬ 
tracted  creatures,  who  knew  not  what  they  were  saying.  Upon 
this  they  declared,  that  “  the  black  man  whispered  to  her  in  her 
ear  now  (while  she  was  upon  examination),  and  that  she  had  a 
yellow  bird,  that  did  use  to  suck  between  her  fingers,  and  that 
the  said  bird  did  suck  now  in  the  assembly.*  Order  being  given 
to  look  in  that  place  to  see  if  there  were  any  sign,  the  girl  that 
pretended  to  see  it  said  that  it  was  too  late  now,  for  she  had  re¬ 
moved  a  pin,  and  put  it  on  her  head.  It  was  upon  search  found 
that  a  pin  was  there  sticking  upright.  When  the  accused  had 
any  motion  of  her  body,  hands,  or  mouth,  the  accusers  would  cry 
out ;  as  when  she  bit  her  lip,  they  would  cry  out  of  being  bitten  ; 
if  she  grasped  one  hand  with  the  other,  they  would  cry  out  of 
being  pinched  by  her,  and  would  produce  marks;  so  of  the  other 
motions  of  her  body,  as  complaining  of  being  pressed,  when  she 
leaned  to  the  seat  next  her  ;  if  she  stirred  her  feet,  they  would 

• 

*  These  yellow  birds — perhaps  canaries — form  n  peculiar  feature  nf  witchcraft  in 
New  England.  “  In  sermon  time,  when  Gondw  i tie  C  was  present  in  the  meeting¬ 
house,  Abigail  Williams  called  out, ‘Look  where  Goodwife  C  sits  on  the  beam 
suckling  her  yellow  bird  betwixt  her  fingers !’  Amir  Pitman,  another  pirl  afflict¬ 
ed,  said,  ‘  There  was  n  yellow  Idl'd  sat  on  my  hat  as  it  hung  on  the  pin  in  the  pul¬ 
pit  but  those  that  were  by  restrained  her  from  speaking  loud  about  it.” — In¬ 
crease  Mather's  “  Further  Account  of  the  New  England  Witches,”  p.  2. 


SALEM  WITCHES. 


391 


stamp  and  cry  out  of  pain  there.  After  the  hearing,  the  said 
Cory  was  committed  to  Salem  prison,  and  then  their  crying  out 
of  her  abated.” 

On  the  24th  of  March,  Good  wife  Nurse  was  suddenly  exam¬ 
ined  before  the  ministers  and  magistrates  in  the  meetinghouse, 
with  the  same  result.  A  child  between  four  and  five  years  old 
was  now  also  committed.  The  accusers  said  that  this  child 
came  invisibly,  and  bit  them,  and  they  would  show  the  marks 
oi  small  teeth  on  their  arms  to  corroborate  the  statement ;  and 
when  the  child  cast  its  eye  upon  them,  they  immediately  cried 
out  that  they  were  in  torment. 

1  he  number  of  accusers  and  accused  now  increased  fast,  and 
some  of  the  latter,  as  the  only  means  of  saving  themselves,  made 
confessions,  and  accused  others.  They  all  spoke  of  a  black  man, 
and  some  described  him  as  resembling  an  Indian,  a  circum¬ 
stance  we  can  easily  understand.  We  are*  told  by  one  of  the 
historians  ol  these  events  of  a  converted  Indian,  who  was  a  zeal¬ 
ous  preacher  of  the  gospel  among  his  countrymen  ;  “  being  a  lit¬ 
tle  before  he  died  at  work  in  the  wood  making  of  tar,  there  ap¬ 
peared  unto  him  a  black  man,  of  a  terrible  aspect  and  more  than 
human  dimensions,  threatening  bitterly  to  kill  him,  if  he  would 
not  promise  to  leave  off  preaching  to  his  countrymen.”  This  is 
said  to  have  occurred  just  before  the  events  I  am  now  relating; 
the  black  man  of  the  confessions  was  of  ordinary  stature,  but  he 
made  no  secret  of  his  design  to  destroy  the  Christian  settlement, 
and  he  held  meetings  of  his  converts — those  who  had  signed  his 
book — where  they  had  mock  ceremonies  and  participated  in  a 
mock  sacrament.  One  of  the  accused,  who  saved  himself  by 
confessing,  told  how  the  devil  appeared  “  in  the  shape  of  a  black 
man,  in  the  evening,  to  set  my  name  to  his  book,  as  I  have 
owned  to  my  shame  ;  he  told  me  that  I  should  not  want,  so  do¬ 
ing.  At  Salem  village,  there  being,  a  little  oft*  the  meeting¬ 
house,  about  a  hundred  fine  blades,  some  with  rapiers  by  their 
sides,  ....  and  the  trumpet  sounded,  and  bread  and  wine, 
which  they  called  the  sacrament ;  but  I  had  none,  being  carried 
over  all  on  a  stick,  and  never  was  present  at  any  other  meeting.” 
— “  The  design  was  to  destroy  Salem  village,  and  to  begin  at 
the  minister’s  house,  and  to  destroy  the  churches  of  God,  and  to 
set  up  Satan’s  kingdom,  and  then  all  will  be  well.” 

The  ministers  and  magistrates  went  on  with  their  fastings  and 
examinings,  as  the  number  of  persons  accused  increased,  until, 
on  the  11th  ol  April,  there  was  a  grand  public  hearing  at  Salem 
before  six  magistrates  and  several  ministers.  One  Goodwife 


392 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


Procter  was  among  the  persons  accused  on  this  occasion.  Her 
husband  attended  to  assist  and  advise  her,  and  when  he  took  her 
part,  the  accusers  “  cried  out  on  him,”  and  both  were  accordingly 
committed. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1692,  Sir  William  Phipps  arrived,  bring¬ 
ing  with  him  the  new  charter  of  the  colony.  Instead  of  being 
the  harbinger  of  peace  by  importing  the  liberal  principles  which 
were  now  gaining  ground  in  England,  the  new  governor  either 
shared  in  the  prejudices  of  the  colonists,  or  wished  to  gain  pop¬ 
ularity  among  them  by  appearing  to  do  so,  and  he  ordered  all  the 
prisoners  who  were  charged  with  witchcraft  to  be  thrown  into 
chains.  Upon  this  the  afflicted  persons  are  said  to  have  been  in 
general  relieved  from  their  tortures.  The  accusations  were  now 
multiplied,  and  people  of  the  greatest  respectability  in  society 
became  subject  to  the  denunciations  of  the  afflicted.  On  the 
24th  of  May,  a  Mrs.' Cary,  of  Charlestowm,  having  been  accused 
by  some  of  the  girls  and  an  Indian,  was  arrested  and  brought 
before  the  ministers  and  magistrates  for  examination.  Her 
husband  went  with  her  to  support  her  in  her  trials,  and  we  have 
his  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  examination  was  carried 
on.  “  Being  brought  before  the  justices,”  he  says,  “  her  chief 
accusers  were  two  girls.  My  wife  declared  to  the  justices  that 
she  never  had  any  knowledge  of  them  before  that  day.  She 
was  forced  to  stand  with  her  arms  stretched  out.  I  did  request 
that  I  might  hold  one  of  her  hands,  but  it  was  denied  me.  Then 
she  desired  me  to  wipe  the  tears  from  her  eyes  and  the  sweat 
from  her  face,  which  I  did.  Then  she  desired  she  might  lean 
herself  on  me,  saying  she  should  faint.  Justice  Hathorn  replied, 
she  had  strength  enough  to  torment  those  persons,  and  she  should 
have  strength  enough  to  stand.  I  speaking  something  against 
their  cruel  proceedings,  they  commanded  me  to  be  silent,  or  else 
1  should  be  turned  out  of  the  room.  The  Indian  before  men¬ 
tioned  was  also  brought  in  to  be  one  of  her  accusers  :  being 
come  in,  he  now  (when  before  the  justices)  fell  down  and  tum¬ 
bled  about  like  a  hog,  but  said  nothing.  The  justice  asked  the 
girls,  who  afflicted  the  Indian.  They  answered,  ‘  she’  (meaning 
my  wife),  and  now  lay  upon  him  ;  the  justices  ordered  her  to 
touch  him,  in  order  to  his  cure,  but  her  head  must  be  turned  an¬ 
other  way,  lest  instead  of  curing  she  should  make  him  worse  by 
her  looking  on  him,  her  hand  being  guided  to  take  hold  of  his  ; 
but  the  Indian  took  hold  on  her  hand,  and  pulled  her  down  on  the 
floor,  in  a  barbarous  manner;  then  his  hand  was  taken  off,  and 
her  hand  put  on  his,  and  the  cure  was  quickly  wrought.” 


THE  EXECUTIONS  COMMENCE.  303 

When  this  man  proceeded  to  expostulate  in  favor  of  his  wife 
he  only  provoked  the  court  by  his  interference,  and  the  afflicted 
were  ready  to  “  cry  out”  against  him.  Both,  however,  succeeded 
n  making  their  escape  ;  and  they  proceeded  to  Rhode  Island 
and  hence  to  New  \  ork  The  prosecutors  now  adopted  some 
e  ™odes  ot  tnal  which  they  learned  from  the  printed  books 
that  had  been  imported  from  England,  such  as  makm<>  the  ac¬ 
cused  say  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  and  searching  for  teats,  One  of  the 
a  ter  was  said  to  have  been  found  on  the  person  of  Goodwife 

j  '"P-  •  ?"  ll1,e  31st  of  May>  the  accusers  struck  a  step  higher, 
and  cried  out  upon  a  sea-captain  of  Boston,  named  John  Aldin 
who  was  brought  to  Salem  for  examination.  He  asked  his  ac¬ 
cusers,  Why  they  should  think  that  he  should  come  to  that  vil- 
lage  to  afflict  those  persons  that  he  never  knew  or  saw  before?” 
But  he  found  expostulation  in  vain,  and  he  was  committed  to 
p  son  in  Boston.  I  he  jailer,  however,  began  to  treat  his  pris¬ 
oners  with  less  rudeness,  and  after  a  long  imprisonment,  Captain 
Aid  n  escaped  perhaps  with  the  jailer’s  connivance. 

v  ii  the  2d  ol  June  a  special  commission  was  opened  at  Salem 
for  tlie  trial  of  the  offenders.  The  depositions'^™  mint  of 
them  ol  such  an  extraordinary  character,  that  we  can  not  be  sur¬ 
prised  at  being  told  that  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  same  month  Gov- 
r.im  upps  found  it  necessary  to  consult  with  the  ministers  of 
os  on,  and  that  he  was  advised  by  them  to  proceed  with  caution. 

t]1Vr  7^'  ’  Bndgcet  Bish°P  had  bee“  hange d,  which  was 

the  first,  of  tins  series  of  executions. 

I  he  actors  in  this  tragedy  began,  as  I  have  already  intimated 
by  accusing  persons  who  were  already  despised  and  disliked  by 
Jen  neighbors,  whose  ears  therefore  were  open  to  any  charges 
against  them.  Bridget  Bishop,  tbe  first  woman  executed,  and 
us  anna  Martin,  who  was  condemned  about  the  same  time,  be- 
onged  to  this  class,  and,  to  judge  by  the  extraordinary  deposi¬ 
tions  on  their  trials  both  had  been  for  some  time  regarded  as 
dangerous  individuals.  One  of  the  “  afflicted”  stated  that  “the 
shape  of  we  prisoner  appeared  to  her  frequently,  and  bit,  pricked 
and  otherwise  tormented  her.  Another  testified,  “  that  it  was 
le  shape  of  this  prisoner  (Bishop)  with  another,  which  one  day 
took  her  from  her  wheel,  and  carried  her  to  the  river  side,  threat¬ 
ening  there  to  drown  her  if  she  did  not  sign  the  book.”  It  is 
added,  “  One  Deliverance  Hobbes,  who  had  confessed  her  being 
a  witch,  was  now  tormented  by  the  spectres  for  her  confession*! 

nd  she  now  testified,  that  this  Bishop  tempted  her  to  si<m  the 
book  again,  and  to  deny  what  she  had  confessed.  She  affirmed 


394 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


that  it  was  the  shape  of  this  prisoner  which  whipped  her  with 
iron  rods  to  compel  her  thereunto.  And  she  affirmed  that  this 
Bishop  was  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  witches,  in  a  field  at 
Salem  village,  and  there  partook  of  a  diabolical  sacrament  in 
bread  and  wine  there  administered.”  Several  persons  stated 
that  they  had  been  disturbed  in  their  beds  by  nocturnal  visits  of 
the  “  shape”  of  Bishop  ;  and  one  man  complained  of  her  for  be¬ 
witching  his  sow. 

Other  witnesses  accused  Bridget  Bishop  of  still  more  extraor¬ 
dinary  pranks,  such,  for  example,  as  that  recounted  by  one  John 
Louder,  who  deposed,  “  That  upon  some  little  controversy  with 
Bishop  about  her  fowls  going  well  to  bed,  he  did  awake  in  the 
night  by  moonlight,  and  did  see  clearly  the  likeness  of  this  wo¬ 
man  grievously  oppressing  him  ;  in  which  miserable  condition  she 
held  him,  unable  to  help  himself,  until  near  day.  He  told  Bishop 
of  this  ;  but  she  denied  it,  and  threatened  him  very  much. 
Quickly  after  this,  being  at  home  on  a  Lord’s  day,  with  the  doors 
shut  about  him,  he  saw  a  black  pig  approach  him  ;  at  which  he 
going  to  kick,  it  vanished  away.  Immediately  after,  sitting 
down,  he  saw  a  black  thing  jump  in  at  the  window,  and  come 
and  stand  before  him.  The  body  was  like  that  of  a  monkey,  the 
feet  like  a  cock’s,  but  the  face  much  like  that  of  a  man.  He 
being  so  extremely  affrighted  that  he  could  not  speak,  this  mon¬ 
ster  spoke  to  him,  and  said,  ‘I  am  a  messenger  sent  unto  you, 
for  I  understand  that  you  are  in  some  trouble  of  mind,  and  if  you 
will  be  ruled  by  me,  you  shall  want  for  nothing  in  this  world.’ 
Whereupon  he  endeavored  to  clap  his  hands  upon  it;  but  he 
could  feel  no  substance  ;  and  it  jumped  out  of  the  window  again  ; 
but  immediately  came  in  by  the  porch,  though  the  doors  were 
shut,  and  said,  ‘You  had  better  take  my  counsel!’  He  then 
struck  at  it  with  a  stick,  but  struck  only  the  groundsel,  and  broke 
the  stick.  The  arm  with  which  he  struck  was  presently  disen¬ 
abled,  and  it  vanished  away.  He  presently  went  out  at  the  back 
door,  and  spied  this  Bishop  in  her  orchard  going  toward  her 
house,  but  he  had  no  power  to  set  one  foot  forward  unto  her. 
Whereupon,  returning  into  the  house,  he  was  immediately  ac¬ 
costed  by  the  monster  he  had  seen  before  ;  which  goblin  was 
now  going  to  fly  at  him;  whereat  he  cried  out,  ‘The  whole  ar¬ 
mor  of  God  be  between  me  and  you.’  So  it  sprang  back,  and 
flew  over  the  apple-tree,  shaking  many  apples  off  the  tree  in  its 
flying  over.  At  its  leap  it  flung-  dirt  with  its  feet  against  the 
stomach  of  the  man  ;  whereupon  he  was  then  struck  dumb,  and 
so  continued  for  three  days  together.” 


SUSANNA  MARTIN. 


305 


As  to  Susanna  Martin,  who  was  also  accused  of  navinc  visits 
to  people  through  their  chamber  windows,  a  man  named  Bernard 
cache,  deposed  in  court,  “that  being  in  bed,  on  the  Lord’s  day 
at  night,  he  heard  a  scrambling  at  the  window,  whereat  he  then 
saw  bus  anna  Martin  come  in  and  jump  down  upon  the  floor. 

, e  took  hold  of  this  deponent’s  foot,  and  drawing  his  body  into 
a  neap,  she  lay  upon  him  near  two  hours,  in  all  which  time  he 
could  neither  speak  nor  stir.  At  length,  when  he  could  begin  to 
move  he  laid  hold  on  her  hand,  and  pulling  it  up  to  his  mouth, 
he  bit  some  of  her  lingers,  as  he  judged,  unto  the  bone.  Where- 
upon  she  went  from  the  chamber,  down  stairs,  out  at  the  door, 
iins  deponent  thereupon  called  out  to  the  people  of  the  house 
to  advise  them  of  what  had  passed ;  and  he  himself  did  follow 
rnr  1  he  people  saw  her  not,  but  there  being  a  bucket  at  the 
left  hand  ol  the  door,  there  was  a  drop  of  blood  found  upon  it 
and  several  more  drops  of  blood  upon  the  snow  newly-fallen 
abroad.  I  here  was  likewise  the  print  of  her  two  feet  just  with¬ 
out  the  threshold,  but  no  more  sign  of  any  footing  further  on 
At  another  time  this  deponent  was  desired  by  the  prisoner  to 
come  unto  a  husking  ol  corn  at  Ijer  house,  and  she  said  if  lie  did 
not  come  it  were  better  that  he  did.  He  went  not ;  but  the  nmht 
ollowmg  Susanna  Martin  as  he  judged,  and  another  came 
toward  him.  One  of  them  said,  ‘  Here  he  is,’  but  he  bavin*  a 
quarter-staff,  made  a  blow  at  them.  The  roof  of  the  barn  broke 
ns  blow  but  following  them  to  the  window,  he  made  another 
blow  at  them,  and  struck  them  down  ;  yet  they  got  up  and  *ot 
out,  and  he  saw  no  more  of  them.  About  this  time  there  was  a 
rumor  about  the  town  that  Martin  had  a  broken  head,  but  the  de¬ 
ponent  could  say  nothing  to  that.”  Another  neighbor,  whose 
name  was  John  Kembal,  stated  that,  “  Being  desirous  to  furnish 
himself  with  a  dog,  he  applied  himself  to  buy  one  of  this  Mar- 
tm,  who  had  a  bitch  with  whelps  in  her  house.  But  she  not.  let¬ 
ting  hun  have  his  choice,  he  said  he  would  apply  himself  then 

r;‘fiB1-deU  Htmngmarked  a  puppy  which  he  liked  at 
Bkzdels,  he  met  George  Martin,  the  husband  of  the  prisoner 
going  by,  who  asked  him  whether  he  would  not  have  one  of  his* 
wfle  s  puppms,  and  he  answered,  no.  The  same  day,  one  Ed¬ 
ward  E  hot,  being  at  Martin’s  house,  heard  George  Martin  relate 
where  this  Kembal  had  been,  and  what  he  had  said.  Whereup¬ 
on  Susanna  Martin  replied,  ‘If  I  live  I’ll  give  him  puppies 
enough.  Within  a  few  days  after  this,  Kembal  coming  out  of 
the  woods,  there  arose  a  little  black  cloud  in  the  northwest  and 
Kembal  immediately  felt  a  force  upon  him,  which  made  him  not 


395 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


able  to  avoid  running  upon  stumps  of  trees  that  were  before  him, 
albeit  he  had  a  broad  plain  cart-way  before  him  ;  but  though  he 
had  his  axe  also  on  his  shoulder  to  endanger  him  in  his  falls,  he 
could  not  forbear  going  out  of  his  way  to  tumble  over  them. 
AVhen  he  came  below  the  meetinghouse,  there  appeared  to  him 
a  little  thing  like  a  puppy,  of  a  darkish  color,  and  it  shot  back¬ 
ward  aiid  forward  between  his  legs,  lie  had  the  courage  to  use 
all  possible  endeavors  of  cutting  it  with  his  axe,  but  he  could  not 
hit  it;  the  puppy  gave  a  jump  from  him,  and  went,  as  to  him  it 
seemed,  into  the  ground.  Going  a  little  further  there  appeared  un¬ 
to  him  a  black  puppy,  somewhat  bigger  than  the  first,  but  as  black 
ns  a  coal.  Its  motions  were  quicker  than  those  of  his  axe  ;  it 
flew  at  his  belly,  and  away;  then  at  his  throat;  so  over  his 
shoulder  one  way,  and  then  over  his  shoulder  another  way.  II is 
heart  now  began  to  fail  him,  and  he  thought  the  dog  would  have 
tore  his  throat  out;  but  he  recovered  himself,  and  called  upon 
God  in  his  distress,  and  naming  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  van¬ 
ished  away  at  once.”  Another  witness,  John  Pressy,  declared 

that  being  one  evening  very  unaccountably  bewildered,  near  afield 
of  Martin’s,  and  several  times,  as  one  under  an  enchantment,  re¬ 
turning  to  the  place  he  had  left,  at  length  he  saw  a  marvellous 
light,  about  the  bigness  of  a  half-bushel,  near  two  rods  out  of  the 
way.  He  gave  it  near  forty  blows,  and  felt  it  a  palpable  sub¬ 
stance.  But  going  from  it,  his  heels  were  struck  up,  and  he  was 
laid  with  his  back  on  the  ground,  sliding,  as  he  thought,  into  a 
pit,  whence  he  recovered  by  taking  hold  on  the  bush  ;  although 
afterward  he  could  find  no  such  pit  in  the  place.  Having  after 
his  recovery,  gone  five  or  six  rods,  he  saw  Susanna  Martin  stand¬ 
ing  on  his  left  hand,  as  the  light  had  done  before  ;  but  they 
changed  no  words  with  one  another.  The  next  day  it  was  upon 
inquiry  understood  that  Martin  was  in  a  miserable  condition  by 
pains  and  hurts  that  were  upon  her.” 

These  tales  have  somewhat  of  novelty,  but  others  were  deci¬ 
dedly  adopted  from  the  witch  trials  in  Europe,  and  they  even 
went  so  far  as  to  make  the  pretended  sufferers,  when  under  the 
influence  of  the  “  spirit,”  talk  languages  which  they  had  never 
learned,  such  as  Latin,  and  Greek,  and  even  Hebrew,  although 
it  appeared  that  even  Satan  himself  would  not  condescend  to  talk 
the  barbarous  jargon  of  the  Indians.*  It  was  the  “  shapes,”  or 

*  Dr.  Cotton  Mather  gives  the  following  humorous  description  of  the  difficulty 
of  acquiring  the  Indian  language:  “Behold  new  difficulties  to  be  surmounted  by 
our  indefatigable  Elliot!  He  hires  a  native  to  teach  him  this  exotic  language,  find, 
with  a  laborious  care  and  skill  reduces  it  iato  a  grammar,  which  afterward  he  pub¬ 
lished.  There  is  a  letter  or  two  of  our  alphabet  which  the  Indians  never  had  in 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  INDIANS. 


337 


spectral  appearances  of  the  witches  who  tormented  the  sufferers 
and  performed  ail  these  mischievous  pranks,  and  the  strange  per¬ 
version  of  justice  which  allowed  the  presumed  acts  of  these 
spectres  to  be  considered  as  the  crimes  of  the  individuals  they  rep¬ 
resented,  rendered  the  only  possible  defence,  the  plea  of  alibi , 
inadmissible.  The  statement  regarding  these  spectral  appear¬ 
ances  were  often  as  bold  as  they  were  extraordinary,  and  they 
found  corroborative  witnesses  to  support  them.  “  It  is  wejj 
known,”  says  Cotton  Mather,  in  a  subsequent  history  of  the  col¬ 
ony,  “  that  these  wicked  spectres  did  proceed  so  far  as  to  steal 
several  quantities  of  money  from  divers  people,  part  of  which 
individual  money  was  dropped  sometimes  out  of  the  air,  before 
sufficient  spectators,  into  the  hands  of  the  afflicted,  while  the 
spectres  were  urging  them  to  subscribe  their  covenant  with  death. 
Moreover,  poisons,  to  the  standers-by  wholly  invisibly,  were 
sometimes  forced  upon  the  afflicted;  which,  when  they  have 
with  much  reluctancy  swallowed,  they  have  swollen  presently,  so 
that  the  common  medicines  for  poisons  have  been  found  neces¬ 
sary  to  relieve  them.  Yea,  sometimes  the  spectres  in  the  strug¬ 
gle  have  so  dropped  the  poisons,  that  the  standers-by  have 
smelled  them,  and  viewed  them,  and  beheld  the  pillows  of  the 
miserable  stained  with  them.  Yet  more,  the  miserable  have 
complained  bitterly  of  burning  rags  run  into  their  forcibly-dis¬ 
tended  mouths  ;  and  though  nobody  could  see  any  such  cloths, 
or,  indeed,  any  fires  in  the  chambers,  yet  presently  the  scalds 
were  seen  plainly  by  everybody  on  the  mouths  of  the  complainers, 
and  not  only  the  smell,  but  the  smoke,  of  the  burning  sensibly 
filled  the  chambers.  Once  more,  the  miserable  exclaimed  ex¬ 
tremely  of  branding-irons  heating  at  the  fire  on  the  hearth  to 
mark  them  ;  now,  though  the  standers-by  could  see  no  irons,  yet 
they  could  see  distinctly  the  print  of  them  in  the  ashes,  and 

theirs  ;  but  if  their  alphabet  be  short,  I  am  sure  the  words  composed  of  it  are  Ion" 
enough  to  tire  the  patience  of  any  scholar  in  the  world;  they  are  xesquipedalia 
verb",  of  which  their  lingo  is  composed  ;  one  would  think  they  had  been  growing 
ever  since  Babel  unto  the  dmeusions  lo  which  they  are  now  extended.  For  ini 
stance,  if  my  render  will  count  how  many  letters  there  in  this  one  word.  Nnuviat- 
chekodtantamoons'awiMnonash,  when  he  hns  done,  for  his  reward,  I ’ll  tell  him  it 
signifies  no  more  in  English  than  ‘ our  lusts;’  and  if  I  were  to  translate  ‘our  loves,’ 
it  must  b“  nothing  shorter  than  Nomcomantaiumononkanunonnash.  Or,  to  gi  c  my 
render  a  longer  word  than  either  of  these.  Kvmmr‘gki>donoUootiunintooi>>itr/ion<*iil,. 
niinno'.insh,  is,  in  English,  ‘  our  question;-  but  I  pray, sir,  count  the  letters  !  Nor  do  we 
find  in  all  this  language,  tlv  least  affi,  ity  to,  or  d<  ri\  a'ion  from,  any  European  speech 
that  we  are  acquainted  with."  He  then  adds  :  1  know  not  what  thoughts  it  will 

produce  in  my  reader  when  I  inform  him,  that  once  finding  that  the  daemons  in  a 
possessed  young  woman,  understood  the  Latin,  and  Greek,  and  Hebrew  languages, 
my  curiosity  led  me  to  make  Hal  of  this  Indian  language,  and  the  daemons  did  seem 
as  if  they  did  not  understand  it:’ — Math  isu’s  Maunaha,  book  iii.,  p.  193. 


393 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


smell  them  too,  as  they  were  carried  by  the  unseen  furies  unto  the 
poor  creatures  for  whom  they  were  intended  ;  and  those  poor  crea¬ 
tures  were  thereupon  so  stigmatized  with  them,  that  they  will  bear 
the  marks  of  them  to  their  dying  day.  Nor  are  these  the  tenth 
part  of  the  prodigies  that  fell  out  among  the  inhabitants  of  New 
England.  Flashy  people  may  burlesque  these  things,  but  when 
hundreds  of  the  most  sober  people  in  a  country,  where  they  have 
as  much  mother-wit  certainly  as  the- rest  of  mankind,  know  them 
to  be  true,  nothing  but  the  absurd  and  froward  spirit  of  Saddu- 
cism  can  question  them.  I  have  not  yet  mentioned  so  much  as 
one  thing  that  will  not  be  justified,  if  it  be  required,  by  the  oaths 
of  more  considerate  persons  than  any  that  can  ridicule  these  odd 
phenomena.” 

The  moment  the  executions  commenced,  the  evil,  instead  of 
stopping,  spread  wider  and  wider.  The  accused  were  multiplied 
in  proportion  to  the  accusers,  and  no  one -was  for  one  moment 
sure  that  the  next  moment  he  might  not  be  denounced  and  or- 
dered  for  trial,  which  was  almost  equivalent  to  being  convicted. 
For  so  fully  convinced  were  magistrates  and  ministers  that  Satan 
was  in  the  midst  of  them,  using  human  instruments  to  effect  his 
purposes,  that  the  slightest  evidence  was  received  with  the  utmost 
eagerness.  The  court  met  again  on  the  30tli  of  June,  and  five 
more  were  condemned,  who  were  all  executed  on  the  19th  of  July. 
Among  these  were  Sarah  Good  and  Rebecca  Nurse,  the  two 
“  goodwives”  above  mentioned.  “  On  the  trial  of  Sarah  Good, 
one  of  the  afflicted  fell  in  a  fit,  and  after  coming  out  of  it,  she 
cried  out  of  the  prisoner  for  stabbing  her  in  the  hand  with  a 
knife,  and  that  she  had  broken  the  knife  in  stabbing  of  her;  ac¬ 
cordingly  a  piece  of  the  blade  of  a  knife  was  found  about  her. 
Immediately  information  being  given  to  the  court,  a  young  man 
was  called,  who  produced  a  haft  and  part  of  the  blade,  which  the 
court  having  viewed  and  compared,  saw  it  to  be  the  same.  And 
upon  inquiry,  the  young  man  affirmed  that  yesterday  he  hap¬ 
pened  to  break  that  knife,  and  that  he  cast  away  the  upper  part, 
this  afflicted  person  being  then  present.  The  young  man  was 
dismissed,  and  she  was  bidden  by  the  court  not  to  tell  lies ;  and 
was  improved  after  (as  she  had  been  before)  to  give  evidence 
against  the  prisoner.”  As  to  Goodwil'e  Nurse,  the  jury  at  first 
brought  her  in  not  guilty;  on  which  the  accusers  and  the  afflicted 
suddenly  raised  a  hideous  outcry,  pretending  that  she  was  tor¬ 
menting  them  again,  and  it  being  represented  to  the  jury  that 
they  had  not  given  due  •consideration  to  one  expression  of  hers, 
they  returned  to  reconsider  their  verdict,  and  sent  her  to  the  gal- 


EXECUTION  OF  GEORGE  BURROUGHS. 


399 


lows.  Like  her  companions  in  suffering,  she  persisted  in  decla¬ 
ring  her  innocence. 

At  another  court,  on  the  5th  of  August,  six  were  condemned, 
who  were  all  executed  on  the  19th,  except  Procter’s  wife,  who 
pleaded  pregnancy.  Among  these  was  Mr.  George  Burroughs, 
a  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  provoked  his  judge  by  resting  his 
defence  on  the  bold  argument,  “  that  there  neither  are,  nor  ever 
were,  witches  that,  having  made  a  compact  with  the  devil,  can 
send  a  devil  to  torment  other  people  at  a  distance.”  When 
brought  to  ihe  place  of  execution,  he  addressed  the  multitude  as¬ 
sembled  around  him  with  so  much  feeling,  that  many  of  the  spec¬ 
tators  were  in  tears,  and  all  seemed  to  relent.  The  accusers 
cried  out  upon  him,  and  said  the  black  man  was  standing  by  him 
and  dictating  his  discourse  ;  and  Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  who  was 
present  on. horseback,  came  forward  to  address  the  crowd,  assu¬ 
ring  them  that  he  was  not  a  minister  regularly  ordained,  intima¬ 
ting  that  his  piety  was  all  deception,  and  telling  them  that  “  the 
devil  has  often  been  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light.”  Thus 
was  the  rising  sympathy  of  the  people  checked,  and  the  execu¬ 
tioner  suffered  to  go  through  with  his  duties. 

Some  persons  began  now  to  feel  alarmed  at  the  manner  in 
which  these  proceedings  multiplied,  or  were  disgusted  at  the  in¬ 
justice  which  they  exhibited,  though  for  some  time  it  was  dan¬ 
gerous  to  express  such  sentiments.  One  John  Willard,  who  had 
been  employed  to  arrest  those  accused,  refused  to  perform  the 
office  any  longer,  and  he  was  immediately  cried  out  upon  by  the 
accusers.  He  sought  safety  in  flight,  but  he  was  pursued  and 
overtaken,  and  he  was  one  of  those  executed  with  Burroughs. 
Giles  Cory  was  brought  up  for  trial  on  the  16th  of  September, 
but  indignant  at  the  injustice  which  was  shown  to  others,  he  re¬ 
fused  to  plead,  and  he  was  pressed  to  death.  In  the  inlliction 
of  this  punishment  his  tongue  was  forced  out  of  his  mouth,  and 
the  unfeeling  sheriff'  forced  it  in  again  with  his  cane  as  the  vic¬ 
tim  lay  in  the  agonies  of  death.  On  the  22d  of  September,  eight 
more  were  executed  ;  on  their  way  to  the  place  of  execution  the 
cart  which  conveyed  them  was  upset,  and  the  “  afflicted”  declared 
that  the  devil  accompanied  the  cart,  and  that  he  overthrew  it  in 
order  to  retard  their  punishment. 

Nineteen  individuals  had  now  been  hanged,  in  addition  to  the 
man  who  was  pressed  to  death,  and  the  magistrates  themselves 
seem  to  have  been  anxious  to  find  some  justification  for  their  con¬ 
duct.  Thereupon  Cotton  Mather  at  the  express  desire  of  the 
governor,  prepared  for  the  press  reports  of  seven  of  the  trials, 


400 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


and  justified  them  by  examples  taken  from  the  similar  trials  in 
England,  and  by  the  doctrines  of  the  English  writers  in  favor  of 
the  prosecutions  for  this  crime.  His  book,  entitled,  “  More  Won¬ 
ders  of  the  Invisible  World,”  was  published  in  the  month  of  Oc¬ 
tober.  The  persecution  received  a  check  at  this  time  from  an¬ 
other  circumstance.  Mr.  Hale,  minister  of  Beverley,  had  been 
one  of  the  warmest  promoters  of  these  prosecutions  ;  but  in  the 
month  of  October,  the  accusers,  who  were  now  aiming  at  more 
respectable  people  than  at  first,  cried  out  upon  this  minister’s 
wife.  As  he  and  his  friends  were  fully  convinced  of  her  purity 
and  innocence,  this  charge  was  treated  as  absurd,  but  it  con¬ 
vinced  Mr.  Hale  and  others  of  the  injustice  of  the  whole  proceed¬ 
ings.  Still  the  leaders  of  the  persecution  persisted  in  their 
course,  and  to  get  over  this  serious  difficulty,  they  raised  the 
question  whether  the  devil  could  assume  the  “  shape”  or  spectre 
of  a  good  person  to  afflict  his  victims.  Increase  Mather,  the 
principal  of  Harvard  college,  was  requested  to  treat  this  question, 
which  he  did  very  learnedly,  in  a  book  entitled,  “  Cases  of  Con¬ 
science  concerning  Witchcraft,  and  Evil  Spirits  personating 
Men,”  resolving  it  in  the  affirmative.  People’s  faith,  however, 
was  so  far  shaken  by  these  latter  occurrences,  that  though  the 
accusations  continued,  and  new  arrests  were  made  daily,  there 
were  no  more  executions.  The  persecutors,  disappointed  in 
their  thirst  after  the  blood  of  their  own  species,  now  vented  their 
rage  upon  inferior  animals.  A  dog  was  strangely  afflicted  at 
Salem,  upon  which  those  who  had  the  spectral  sight  declared 
that  a  brother  of  one  of  the  justices  afflicted  the  poor  animal,  by 
riding  upon  it  invisibly.  The  man  made  his  escape,  but  the  dog 
was  very  unjustly  hanged.  Another  dog  was  accused  of  afflict¬ 
ing  others,  who  fell  into  fits  the  moment  it  looked  upon  them,  and 
it  also  was  killed. 

The  infection  was  now  communicated  from  Salem  to  other 
places.  “  About  this  time,”  says  one  of  the  writers  of  these 
events,  “a  new  scene  began.  One  Joseph  Ballard,  of  Andover, 
whose  wife  was  ill,  sent  to  Salem  for  some  of  those  accusers,  to  tell 
him  who  afflicted  his  wife  ;  others  did  the  like.  Horse  and  man 
were  sent  from  several  places  to  fetch  those  accusers  who  had 
the  spectral  sight,  that  they  might  thereby  tell  who  afflicted  those 
that  were  any  way  ill.  When  these  came  into  any  place  where 
such  were,  usually  they  fell  into  a  Jit;  alter  which,  being  asked 
who  was  it  that  afflicted  the  person,  they  would  for  the  most  part 
name  one  who  they  said  sat  on  the  head  and  another  that  sat  on 
the  lower  part  of  the  afflicted.  More  than  fifty  people  of  Ando- 


RELEASE  OF  WITCHES.  401 

ver  were  thus  complained  of  for  afflicting  their  neighbors  Here 
t  was  that  many  accused  themselves  of  riding  upon  poles  through 

the  air  ;  many  parents  believed  their  children  to  be  witches  and 
many  husbands  their  wives.”  ’  ua 

of  theAnl0Ver  f  o  accf alior'3  multiplied  so  rapidly,  that  a  justice 
mi  uJT'f  Vh'“  f'f  e>  "™ed  Dud|ey  Bradstreet,  after  com- 
"  S  thlrly  OT  f»ny,  became  alarmed,  and  refused  to  grant  any 

“°f" ’  upon  the  justice  and  Ins 

and  tiiev  H  l"'  "i'  A  '“d  kllIed  m,le  persons  by  witchcraft, 

ami  cy  declared  that  they  saw  the  ghosts  of  the  murdered 

lie  hoveling  about  him.  Justice  Bradstreet  saw  how  things 

Xrtf,nfl  "  Jud,ged  k  advisab,e  t0  make  his  escape.  Soon 
niodi  f’  T;'  Cn  td  °llt  a§a]nst  a  gentleman  of  Boston,  who  im- 

cW  -r  t°r  ned  a  Wjr,t  °f  arrest  against  his  accusers  on  a 
charge  of  defamation,  and  laid  his  damages  at  a  thousand  pounds. 

I  his  hold  proceeding  did  more  than  anything  else  to  stop  the  ao 
cusations,  which  from  that  time  began  to  fall  into  discredit.  Some 
of  those  who  had  confessed,  retracted  their  confessions.  On  the 
oi  January,  1693,  in  the  superior  court  of  Salem,  of  fifty-six 
bnls  of  indictment  containing  charges  of  this  kind,  thirty  were 

their  t!  ’  r;  °  t  le1°ther  SI^and-twenty,  when  they  were  put  on 
heir  tiial,  three  only  were  found  guilty.  At  the  end  of  January, 

sev  en  who  lay  under  condemnation  were  reprieved. 

he  ;,°ut  the  of  APriI,  Governor  Phipps  was  recalled,  and 

he  signalized  his  departure  by  setting  at  liberty  all  the  prisoners 

ftXl  W1  hfirClVCra  “•  Tpy  alnou"ted  «  >'W»  time  L  about  I 
undred  and  fifty,  of  whom  fifty  had  confessed  themselves  witch- 

es  About  two  hundred  more  had  been  accused,  who  were  not 

worJe^^  Under  a™‘-  The  PeoPIe  ol'  Salem  expected  the 

1  miennv  r,rCeS  fr°m  th‘S’  as  theP  considered  it  mistaken 
leniency,  and  they  were  astonished  to  find  that  the  moment  the 

accusations  were  discountenanced,  there  were  no  more  afflicted 

fleet 6  ,i'ppChCra^  • ceased-  People  in  general  now  began  to  re-# 
fleet,  were  convinced  of  their  error,  and  lamented  it?  Seized 
with  remorse,  their  resentment  fell  first  and  principally  on  Mr 
I  aris,  the  minister  of  Salem  village,  with  whom  the  accusations 
commenced  ;  many  of  his  congregation  withdrew  from  his  com¬ 
munion,  and  they  drew  up  articles  against  him.  The  disputes 
between  the  mnuster  and  his  people  lasted  two  or  three  years, 
and  although  he  cieknowledged  his  mistakes,  and  professed  that 
he  should  be  far  from  acting  again  upon  the  same  principles,  they 
were  not  satisfied,  till  he  left  them.  In  a  strong  re, non stance 
against  him,  thev  enumerated  the  setting  afloat  of  these  accusa- 

34  # 


402 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


tions  as  his  principal  crime,  and  declared  their  opinion  that,  “by 
these  practices  and  principles,  he  had  been  the  beginner  and  pre¬ 
cursor  of  the  sorest  afflictions,  not  to  this  village  only,  but  to  this 
whole  country,  that  ever  did  befall  them.” 

Some  persons  persisted  in  believing  in  the  witchcraft,  and  in 
Satan’s  active  agency  in  this  ailair,  though  they  acknowledged 
that  the  accusations  had  been  carried  too  far  ;  and  among  these 
were  the  two  Mathers.  Before  the  conclusion  of  the  year  an 
opportunity  occurred  for  reviving  the  subject.  On  the  10th  of 
September,  1693,  a  girl  at  Boston,  named  Margaret  Rule,  was 
seized  with  convulsions,  and  stated  that  she  was  visited  by  eight 
spectres,  some  of  which  she  recognised  as  being  those  of  persons 
she  knew.  Cotton  Mather  visited  her,  professed  himself  con¬ 
vinced  of  the  truth  of  her  statement,  and  would  soon  have  raised 
up  a  new  flame.  Rut  there  was  an  influential  and  intelligent 
merchant  of  Boston,  named  Robert  Calef,  who  also  visited  Mar¬ 
garet  Rule,  and  who  formed  a  totally  different  opinion  to  that  ex¬ 
pressed  by  Cotton  Mather,  whose  doctrine  of  witchcraft  he  con¬ 
troverted,  and  he  gained  the  better  in  the  argument.  From  a 
book  published  by  Calef,  at  Boston,  under  the  title  of  “  More 
Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,”  we  obtain  the  best  and  most 
intelligible  account  of  the  extraordinary  proceedings  at  Salem 
and  Andover. 

From  this  time  we  hear  no  more  of  witches  in  New  England. 
Ashamed  of  their  weakness,  the  people  of  Salem  seem  to  have 
brooded  over  their  past  folly  for  several  years.  On  the  17th  of 
December,  1696,  a  fast  was  proclaimed,  one  of  the  reasons  for 
which  was,  “  That  God  would  show  us  what  we  knew  not,  and 
help  us  wherein  we  have  done  amiss  to  do  so  no  more  ;  and  es¬ 
pecially  that  whatever  mistakes  on  either  hand  had  been  fallen 
into,  either  by  the  body  of  this  people,  or  any  orders  of  men,  re¬ 
ferring  to  the  late  tragedy  raised  among  us  by  Satan  and  his  in¬ 
struments  through  the  awful  judgment  of  God,  he  would  humble 
us  therefore,  and  pardon  all  the  errors  of  his  servants.”  At  this 
fast  one  of  the  judges  stood  up  to  declare  publicly  his  remorse 
for  the  part  he  had  taken  in  these  lamented  transactions.  The 
jurors  signed  a  paper  also  proclaiming  their  repentance,  and 
ending  with  the  declaration,  “  That  we  justly  fear  that  we  were 
sadly  deluded  and  mistaken,  for  which  we  are  much  disquieted  * 
and  distressed  in  our  minds  ;  and  do  therefore  humbly  beg  for¬ 
giveness,  first  of  God,  for  Christ’s  sake,  for  this  our  error ;  and 
pray  that  God  would  not  impute  the  guilt  of  it  to  ourselves  or 
others;  and  we  also  pray  that  we  may  be  considered  candidly, 


THE  DELUSION  EXPOSED. 


403 


and  aright,  by  the  living  sufferers,  as  being  then  under  the  power 
of  a  strong  and  general  delusion,  utterly  unacquainted  with,  and 
not  experienced  in,  matters  ol  that  nature.”  The  delusion  was 
further  exposed  by  voluntary  confessions  of  those  who  had  pre¬ 
viously  confessed  themselves  witches,  which  they  declared  they 
had  done  only  to  save  their  lives.  The  following  declaration, 
signed  by  several  of  the  women  who  had  acted  as  accusers,  no 
doubt  acquaints  us  with  the  secret  of  many  of  the  witch-delusions 
in  England.  “  Joseph  Ballard  of  Andover’s  wife  being  sick,” 
say  they,  “  he  either  from  himself,  or  the  advice  of  others,  fetched 
two  ol  the  persons  called  the  afflicted  persons  from  Salem  vil¬ 
lage  to  Andover,  which  was  the  cause  of  that  dreadful  calamity 
which  befell  us  at  Andover.  W  e  were  blindfolded,  and  our  hands 
were  laid  oh  the  afflicted  persons,  they  being  in  their  fits,  and 
falling  into  these  fits  at  our  coming  into  their  presence,  and  then 
they  said  that  we  were  guilty  of  afflicting  them,  whereupon  we 
were  all  seized  as  prisoners  by  a  warrant  from  the  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  forthwith  carried  to  Salem  ;  and  by  reason  of  that 
sudden  surprisal,  we  knowing  ourselves  altogether  innocent  of 
that  crime,  we  were  all  exceedingly  astonished,  and  amazed,  and 
consternated,  and  affrighted  out  of  our  reason  ;  and  our  dearest 
relations  seeing  us  in  that  dreadful  condition,  and  knowing  our 
great  danger,  they  out  of  tender  love  and  pity,  persuaded  us  to 
conless  what  we  did  confess  ;  and,  indeed,  that  confession  was 
no  other  than  what  was  suggested  to  us  by  some  gentlemen,  they 
telling  us  that  we  were  witches,  and  they  knew  it,  and  we  knew 
it,  and  they  knew  that  we  knew  it,  which  made  us  think  that  we 
were  so,  and  our  understanding,  and  our  reason,  and  our  faculties, 
being  almost  gone,  we  were  not  capable  of  judging  of  our  con¬ 
dition  ;  as  also  the  hard  measures  they  used  with  us  rendered  us 
incapable  of  making  any  defence,  but  we  said  anything  and  ev¬ 
erything  they  desired,  and  most  of  what  we  said  was,  in  fact, 
but  a  consenting  to  what  they  said.” 


404 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  narrative  of  Satan’s  doings  in  Nevv  England  may  be 
looked  upon  as  an  appropriate  conclusion  to  an  historical  sketch 
of  the  prosecutions  for  witchcraft.  We  see  here  combined  in 
one  short  act  the  sudden  force  exercised  by  the  superstition  over 
the  popular  mind,  the  disasters  to  which  it  led,  and  the  final  tri¬ 
umph  of  good  sense  and  honest  feelings  in  dispelling  the  illu¬ 
sion.  It  was  that  good  sense  which  was  now  overcoming  pop¬ 
ular  ignorance  in  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe. 

In  France,  where  in  the  earlier  period  the  persecution  of 
witches  was  most  intense,  the  same  circumstances  had  not  ex¬ 
isted  to  keep  it  up  as  in  England  and  Scotland.  With  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  several  cases  of  pretended  possession,  intrigues  of  the 
catholic  priesthood,  who  thus  practised  on  the  credulity  of  the 
populace,  which  occurred  at  this  time,  we  hear  little  of  witch¬ 
craft  in  France  during  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  belief  still  existed  among  the  peasantry,  who,  when  blights 
and  diseases  fell  upon  their  produce  or  stock  unexpectedly,  w  ere 
too  apt  to  ascribe  it  to  such  agency,  but  they  were  discounte¬ 
nanced  by  the  better  classes  of  society.  In  1G72,  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  shepherds  w'ere  arrested  in  Normandy,  on  a  charge  of 
witchcraft,  and  prosecuted  before  the  parliament  of  Rouen  ;  but 
when  the  king  was  informed  of  it,  he  at  once  put  a  stop  to  the 
process  by  an  order  of  council,  directing  the  prisoners  to  be  set 
at  liberty  This  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  king  had  the  im¬ 
mediate  effect  de  fane  taire  Ic  demon  !  Yet  a  similar  accusation 
was  brought  against  the  shepherds  of  Brie  in  1691. 

Still  the  belief  existed  in  sufficient  force  to  admit  of  its  being 
used  as  an  instrument  for  indulging  personal  animosity,  and  that 
between  a  minister  of  the  crown  and  one  of  the  most  distin¬ 
guished  and  celebrated  of  the  marechals  of  Louis  XIV.  There 
lived  at  Paris  four  men  who  professed  to  be  magicians,  and  pre¬ 
tended  to  be  able  to  raise  the  devil  at  will  ;  they  told  people’s  for¬ 
tunes,  helped  them  to  recover  things  stolen  or  lost,  and  sold 
powders  and  unguents.  Their  names  were  Lavoisin,  Lavigou- 
reux,  and  his  brother,  the  latter  a  priest,  and  another  priest  named 
Lesage.  In  the  year  1680,  these  men  w'ere  arrested,  and  as  the 


THE  MARECHAL  DE  LUXEMBOURG. 


405 


crimes  in  which  they  and  many  others  Avere  involved  had  usual¬ 
ly  been  punished  by  burning,  a  tribunal  was  appointed  to  sit  at' 
the  arsenal,  under  the  title  of  a  chambre  ardente.  Although  few 
fires  were  eventually  lit  by  the  judgments  of  this  court,  a  great 
number  ol  persons  were  more  or  less  compromised,  and  many  of 
them  belonging  to  the  highest  classes  of  society.  Among  them 
were  two  nieces  ot  Cardinal  Mazarin  ;  the  countess  of  Soissons, 
who  was  cited  before  this  tribunal,  was  so  far  implicated,  that 
she  was  obliged  to  leave  Paris  and  retire  to  Brussels.  Most  of 
these  personages  were  probably  led  to  consult  the  conjurers  more 
by  curiosity  than  Irom  any  other  motive,  and  the  whole  matter 
was  made  a  subject  of  ridicule  and  raillery  in  the  fashionable 
world.  VVhen  the  duchess  of  Bouillon,  who  was  one  of  the  la¬ 
dies  implicated  in  this  affair,  was  examined  before  the  chambre 
ardente ,  one  of  the  judges,  La  Reynie,  who  was  not  remarkable 
for  beauty  or  politeness,  asked  her  it  she  had  seen  the  devil,  and 
what  he  was  like  ;  she  replied,  “  \es,  I  see  him  now  ;  he  is  fort 
laid  et  fort  vilain,  and  appears  in  the  disguise  of  a  conseiller 
d’etat !” 

It  appears  that  the  marechal  de  Luxembourg  had  employed 
Lesage  to  draw  his  horoscope,  and  thus  the  name  of  this  great 
man  was  introduced  into  the  process.  Louvois  was  at  that  time 
prime-minister  of  France,  and  having  some  cause  of  hostility 
against  the  marechal,  he  determined  to  make  this  an  opportunity 
for  indulging  his  animosity,  and  the  marechal  de  Luxembourg 
was  thrown  into  the  Bastile.  It  appears  that  one  of  the  mare- 
chal’s  agents  named  Bonard,  had  lost  some  papers  of  consequence 
belonging  to  his  employer,  and  that,  unable  to  discover  any  traces 
of  them,  he  had  consulted  the  priest  Lesage,  who  instructed  him 
how  he  was  to  visit  the  churches,  recite  psalms,  and  make  con¬ 
fessions.  Bonard  did  all  this,  but  still  he  was  as  far  from  recov¬ 
ering  his  papers  as  ever.  Then  Lesage  told  him  that  a  girl 
named  Dupin  knew  something  about  them,  and  under  his  direc¬ 
tions,  Bonard  performed  a  conjuration  to  force  her  to  bring  them 
back,  but  without  effect.  Upon  this  it  appears  that  Bonard  had 
obtained  the  marechal’s  signature  to  a  paper  which  turned  out  to 
be  a  compact  with  Satan,  and  which  was  produced  at  the  trial. 

It  would  seem  that  the  marechal  had  been  concerned  in  some  in¬ 
trigue  with  the  girl  Dupin.  Lesage  deposed  that  the  marechal 
had  addressed  himself  to  him,  and  through  him  to  the  devil,  to 
effect  the  death  of  this  girl,  who  perhaps  had  been  murdered,  for 
men  were  brought  forward  who  confessed  themselves  the  assas¬ 
sins,  and  who  declared  that,  by  order  of  the  marechal  de  Luxem- 


406 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


bourg,  they  had  cut  her  in  pieces  and  thrown  the  fragments  into 
the  river.  The  marechal  was  confronted  with  Lesage,  and  with 
another  priest  and  conjurer  named  Duvaux,  with  whom  he  was 
accused  of  practising  sorcery,  for  the  purpose  of  killing  more 
than  one  person.  But  he  rebutted  all  these  and  other  charges 
with  indignation,  and,  instead  of  bringing  him  to  a  trial,  Louvois 
caused  him  to  be  kept  in  close  confinement,  and  took  care  that 
the  process  should  be  carried  on  as  slowly  as  possible.  It  was 
only  after  fourteen  months  of  imprisonment  that  he  was  set  at 
liberty  ;  the  accusations  were  dropped  without  any  judgment,  and 
he  was  restored  to  favor  and  to  the  high  offices  he  had  previous¬ 
ly  held.  The  four  magicians  were  less  fortunate,  for  they  had 
all  been  burnt. 

France  had,  however,  the  honor  of  leading  the  way  in  discour¬ 
aging  prosecutions  of  this  kind.  The  irreligion  and  skepticism 
of  the  court  of  Charles  II.,  contributed  no  doubt  toward  produ¬ 
cing  the  same  effect  in  England,  where  many,  who  before  ven¬ 
tured  only  to  doubt,  now  hesitated  not  to  treat  the  subject  with 
ridicule.  Although  works  like  those  of  Baxter  and  Glanvill  had 
still  their  weight  with  many  people,  yet,  in  the  controversy  which 
was  now  carried  on-  upon  this  subject  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  press,  those  who  wrote  against  the  popular  creed  had  cer¬ 
tainly  the  best  of  the  argument.  Still  it  happened  from  their 
form  and  character  that  the  books  written  to  expose  the  absurd¬ 
ity  of  the  belief  in  sorcery,  were  restricted  in  their  circulation 
to  the  more  educated  classes,  while  popular  tracts  in  defence  of 
witchcraft,  and  collections  of  cases  were  printed  in  a  cheaper 
form,  and  widely  distributed  among  that  class  in  society  where 
the  belief  was  most  firmly  rooted.  The  effect  of  these  popular 
publications  lias  continued  in  some  districts  down  to  the  present 
day.  Thus  the  press,  the  natural  tendency  of  which  was  to  en¬ 
lighten  mankind,  was  made  to  increase  ignorance  by  pandering 
to  the  superstitions  of  the  multitude. 

An  instance  of  the  continuance  of  the  belief  which  had  in  for¬ 
mer  times  produced  the  sacrifice  of  so  much  human  life,  occurred 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1712,  in  the  village  of  Walkern,  in 
the  north  of  the  county  of  Idertford.  There  was  a  poor  woman 
in  that  town  named  Jane  Wenham,  who,  it  appears,  had  for  some 
time  been  looked  upon  by  the  more  ignorant  of  her  neighbors  as 
a  witch.  When  the  horses  or  cattle  of  the  farmers  of  that  parish 
died,  they  usually  ascribed  their  losses  to  this  woman’s  sorcery. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  with  a  farmer  named  John  Chapman, 
one  of  whose  laborers,  named  Matthew  Gilson,  examined  on  the 


JANE  WENHAM. 


407 


fourteenth  of  February,  declared,  “  that  on  New  Year’s  day  last 
past,  be  carrying  straw  upon  a  fork  from  Mrs.  Gardiner’s  barn, 
met  Jane  Wenham,  who  asked  him  for  some  straw,  which  lie 
refused  to  give  her;  then  she  said  she  would  take  some,  and  ac¬ 
cordingly  took  some  away  from  this  informant.  And  further,  this 
informant  saith,  that  on  the  29th  of  January  last,  when  this  in¬ 
formant  was  thrashing  in  the  barn  of  his  master,  John  Chapman, 
an  old  woman  in  a  riding-hood  or  cloak,  he  knows  not  which, 
came  to  the  barn-door,  and  asked  him  for  a  pennyworth  of  straw  ; 
he  told  her  he  could  give  her  none,  and  she  went  away  mutter¬ 
ing.  And  this  informant  saith,  that  after  the  woman  was  gone 
he  was  not  able  to  work,  but  ran  out  of  the  barn  as  far  as  a  place 
called  Munder’s  hill  (which  was  above  three  miles  from  Wal- 
kern),  and  asked  at  a  house  there  for  a  pennyworth  of  straw,  and 
they  refused  to  give  him  any ;  he  went  further  to  some  dung- 
heaps,  and  took  some  straw  thence,  and  pulled  off'  his  shirt,  and 
brought  it  home  in  his  shirt;  he  knows  not  what  moved  him  to 
this,  but  says  he  was  forced  to  it  he  knows  not  how.”  Another 
witness  declared  that  he  saw  Matthew  Gilson  returning  with  the 
straw  in  his  shirt;  that  he  moved  along  at  a  great  pace,  and  that 
instead  ol  passing  over  a  bridge,  he  walked  straight  through  the 
water. 

John  Chapman  conceived  now  that  his  suspicions  were  fully 
verified,  and  meeting  Jane  Wenham  soon  afterward,  he  applied 
to  her  in  anger  several  offensive  epithets,  of  which  that  of  “  witch” 
was  the  least  opprobrious.  On  the  9th  of  February,  Jane  Wen¬ 
ham  made  her  complaint  to  Sir  Henry  Chauncy,  who  was  a  ma¬ 
gistrate,  and  obtained  a  warrant  against  Chapman  for  defamation. 
In  the  sequel,  at  the  recommendation  of  this  magistrate,  the  quar¬ 
rel  between  Jane  Wenham  and  tne  farmer  was  referred  to  the 
decision  of  the  minister  of  Walkern,the  Rev.  Mr.  Gardiner,  who 
appears  to  have  spoken  somewhat  harshly  to  the  woman,  advi¬ 
sing  her  to  live  more  peaceably  with  her  neighbors,  and  con¬ 
demned  Chapman  to  pay  her  one  shilling. 

As  far  as  we  can  see,  Jane  Wenham  took  the  most  sensible 
course  to  retrieve  herself  from  the  imputation  of  being  a  witch  ; 
but  Mr.  Gardiner,  although  a  clergyman  of  the  church  of  Eng¬ 
land,  was  as  firm  a  believer  in  witchcraft  as  Farmer  Chapman, 
and  he  fancied  that  he  had  provoked  the  poor  woman  by  not  giv¬ 
ing  her  the  justice  she  expected.  His  judgment  was  delivered 
in  the  kitchen  of  the  parsonage-house,  where  a  maid-servant., 
between  sixteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age,  named  Anne  Thorn, 
was  sitting  by  the  fireside,  who  had  put  her  knee  out  the  even- 


403 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


ing  before,  and  had  just  had  it  set.  It  appears  that  the  supposed 
Avitch  resolved  to  take  vengeance  on  this  poor  girl  for  the  oil'ence 
committed  by  her  master.  Jane  Wen  ham  and  Chapman  were 
gone,  and  Mr.  Gardiner  had  entered  the  parlor  to  his  wife,  ac¬ 
companied  by  a  neighbor  named  Bragge.  These  three  persons 
deposed  at  the  subsequent  trial,  that  “  Mr  Gardiner  had  not  been 
in  the  parlor  with  his  wife  and  Mr.  Bragge  above  six  or  seven 
minutes  at  most  since  he  left  Anne  Thorn  sitting  by  the  lire, 
when  he  heard  a  strange  yelling  noise  in  the  kitchen,  and  when 
he  went  out  and  found  this  Anne  Thorne  stripped  to  her  shirt 
sleeves,  howling  and  wringing  her  hands  in  a  dismal  manner,  and 
speechless,  he  calling  out,  Mrs.  Gardiner  and  Mr.  Bragge  came 
immediately  to  him.  Mrs.  Gardiner  seeing  her  servant  in  that 
sad  condition,  asked  her  what  was  the  matter  with  her.  She 
not.  being  able  to  speak,  pointed  earnestly  at  a  bundle  which  lay 
at  her  feet,  which  Mrs.  Gardiner  took  up  and  unpinned,  and 
found  it  to  be  the  girl’s  gown  and  apron,  and  a  parcel  of  oaken 
twigs  with  dead  leaves  wrapped  up  therein.  As  soon  as  this  bun¬ 
dle  was  opened,  Anne  Thorn  began  to  speak,  crying  out,  ‘  I’m 
ruined  and  undone and  after  she  had  a  little  recovered  herself, 
gave  the  following  relation  of  what  had  befallen  her.  She  said 
when  she  was  left  alone  she  found  a  strange  roaming  in  her 
hand  (I  use  her  own  expressions)  5  her  mind  ran  upon  Jane  Wen- 
ham,  and  she  thought  she  must  run  some  whither  ;  that  according¬ 
ly  she  ran  up  the  close,  but  looked  back  several  times  at  the 
house,  thinking  she  should  never  see  it  more  ;  that  she  climbed 
over  a  five-bar  gate,  and  ran  along  the  highway  up  a  hill ;  that 
there  she  met  two  of  John  Chapman’s  men,  one  of  whom  took 
hold  of  her  hand,  saying,  she  should  go  with  them  ;  but  she  was 
forced  away  from  them,  not  being  able  to  speak,  either  to  them, 
or  to  one  Daniel  Chapman,  whom,  she  said,  she  met  on  horse¬ 
back,  and  would  fain  have  spoken  to  him,  but  could  not;  then 
she  made  her  way  toward  Cromer,  as  far  as  a  place  called  Hock¬ 
ney  lane,  where  she  looked  behind  her,  and  saw  a  little  old  wo¬ 
man  muffled  in  a  riding-hood,  who  asked  her  whither  she  was 
going.  She  answered,  to  Cromer  to  fetch  some  sticks  to  make 
her  a  fire  ;  the  old  woman  told  her  there  were  now  no  sticks  at 
Cromer,  and  bade  her  go  to  that  oak-tree,  and  pluck  some  thence, 
which  she  did,  and  laid  them  upon  the  ground.  The  old  woman 
bade  her  pull  off  her  gown  and  apron,  and  wrap  the  sticks  in 
them,  and  asked  her  whether  she  had  e’er  a  pin.  Upon  her  an¬ 
swering  she  had  none,  the  old  woman  gave  her  a  large  crooked 
pin,  bade  her  pin  up  her  bundle,  and  then  vanished  away ;  after 


ANNE  THORNE’S  ADVENTURES.  409 

which  she  ran  home  with  her  bundle  of  sticks,  and  sat  down  in 
te  kitchen  stripped,  as  Mr.  Gardiner  found  her.  This  is  the 

out^rim  °irLa‘  *  “  relaten’  UP0“  Which  Mrs-  Garditmr  crSd 
’  e  girl  has  been  in  the  same  condition  with  Chanman’s 

nan  ;  but  we  will  burn  the  witch  alluding  to  a  received  lotion 

that  when  the  thing  bewitched  is  burned  The  witch  is  forced  S 

come  ;  accordingly  she  took  the  sticks,  together  wfthT  ni  , 

and  threw  them  into  the  tire.  Immediately,  in  the  instant  that 

he  sticks  were  flaming,  Jane  Wenham  came  into  the  room’  and 

inquired  for  Elizabeth,  the  mother  of  Anne  Thorne  savin  a’  she 

had  an  errand  to  do  to  her  from  Ardley  Bury  (Sir  Henry  Chaim 

cey’s  house),  to  wit,  that  she  must  gl  thi.he  to wash  rtie IZ 

thal'  T  w  SbM°ther  T1l0me  h!ld  bee"  ■»  *e  house  all  the  time 
that  Jane  Wenham  was  there  with  John  Chapman  and  heard 

nothing  of  it,  and  was  then  gone  home.  Mrs.  Gardiner  bad  Jane 
VVenham  go  to  Elizabeth  Thorne,  and  tell  her  there  was  work 
enough  for  her  there  ;  on  which  she  departed.  And  upon  in¬ 
quiry  made  afterward,  it  was  found  that  she  never  was  ordered 
to  deliver  any  such  errand  from  Ardley  Bury.” 

^  e,xcellent  groundwork  for  an  accusation  of  witch- 
cralt.  Chapman  s  two  men,  and  the  horseman,  deposed  to  meet¬ 
ly  Anne  Thorne  on  the  road,  as  she  described;  and  others  of 
ne  W  enham  s  enemies  testified  that  other  people  had  been  be- 

V  tedt by  her‘  A11  received  encouragement  from  the  readiness 
of  the  clergyman  to  promote  the  persecution,  and  a  warrant  was 
obtained  from  Sir  Henry  Chauncey  to  arrest  the  supposed  witch 
1  he  examinations  were  taken  before  Sir  Henry,  at  Ardley  Burv 
and  he  directed  four  women  to  search  Jine  Wenham’s  body  for 
marks,  but  none  were  found  Next  day  the  examination  was 
continued,  and  the  evidence  of  the  Gardiners  was  taken  Jane 
Wenham  expressed  her  horror  of  being  sent  to  jail,  earnestlv 
protested  her  innocence,  entreating  Mrs.  Gardiner  not  to  swear 
against  her,  and  offering  to  submit  to  trial  by  swimming  in  the 
wa  er.  Sir  Henry,  who  seems  to  have  yielded  to  the  prejudices 
of  the  prosecutors  in  most  things,  refused  to  allow  of  this  mode 

°  ,n  7  w  „the  vlcar  o*  Ardley,  no  less  superstitious  than  the 
rector  of  W  alkern  tried  her  with  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  which  she 
repeated  incorrectly,  and  he  subsequently  induced  her,  by  frieht 
and  torment,  to  confess  that  she  was  a  witch  and  had  intercourse 
ith  Satan,  and  to  accuse  three  women  of  Walkern  as  her  con- 
Jederates,  who  were  also  put  under  arrest. 

th/au!  I?3!  Ta?  n°  t  committed>  and  her  trial  came  on  on 
the  4th  of  March,  before  Justice  Powell,  when  no  less  than  six- 

35 


410 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


teen  witnesses,  among  whom  were  three  clergymen,  were  heard 
against  the  prisoner.  The  lawyers  refused  to  draw  up  the  in¬ 
dictment  for  any  other  charge  than  that  of  “  conversing  with  the 
devil  in  the  form  of  a  cat,”  which,  to  the  great  anger  of  the  pros¬ 
ecutors,  threw  an  air  of  ridicule  over  the  whole  proceeding. 
Yet  upon  this  indictment,  in  spite  of  her  declarations  of  inno¬ 
cence,  the  Hertfordshire  jury  found  her  guilty.  The  judge  was 
obliged  to  pronounce  sentence  of  death,  as  a  matter  of  form  ;  but 
he  subsequently  obtained  her  pardon,  and  a  gentleman  of  more 
enlightened  mind  than  the  people  of  Walkern,  Colonel  Plummer, 
of  Gilston  in  the  same  county,  took  her  under  his  protection,  and 
placed  her  in  a  cottage  near  his  own  house,  where  she  passed 
the  rest  of  her  life  in  a  quiet  inoffensive  manner. 

Few  events  of  this  kind  have  caused  a  greater  sensation  than 
the  case  of  Jane  Wenham.  The  report  of  the  trial  passed  through 
several  editions  in  a  few  days,  and  gave  rise  to  a  very  bitter  con¬ 
troversy,  in  which  several  clergymen  joined  in  the  cry  against 
the  innocent  victim.  The  dispute  seems  to  have  become  in  some 
degree  identified  with  the  bitter  animosities  then  existing  between 
the  church  and  the  dissenters — it  was  just  the  time  when  the  in¬ 
tolerant  party,  with  their  hero  Sacheverell,  had  gained  the  upper 
hand,  and  they  seemed  not  unwilling  to  recall  into  force  even  the 
old  degrading  belief  in  witchcraft,  if  they  could  make  it  an  in¬ 
strument  for  effecting  their  purposes.  But  the  most  important 
result  of  this  trial,  and  the  controversy  to  which  it  gave  rise,  was 
the  publication,  two  or  three  years  afterward,  of  the  “  Historical 
Essay  concerning  Witchcraft,”  by  the  king’s  chaplain  in  ordinary, 
Dr.  Francis  Hutchinson.  This  book  may  be  considered  as  the 
last  blow  at  witchcraft,  which  from  this  time  found  credit  only 
among  the  most  ignorant  part  of  the  population. 

The  case  of  Jane  Wenham  is  the  last  instance  of  a  witch  be¬ 
ing  condemned  by  the  verdict  of  an  English  jury.  When  the 
prosecutors  were  no  longer  listened  to  in  courts  of  justice,  they 
either  ceased  to  find  objects  of  pursuit,  or  they  appealed  for  judg¬ 
ment  to  the  passions  of  the  uneducated  peasantry.  An  occurrence 
of  this  kind,  no  less  brutal  than  tragical,  is  said  to  have  led  to  the 
final  repeal  of  the  witchcraft  act.  The  scene  is  again  laid  in 
Hertfordshire.  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  there  lived  at 
Tring,  in  that  county,  a  poor  man  and  his  wife  of  the  name  of 
Osborne,  each  about  seventy  years  of  age.  During  the  rebellion 
of ’forty-five,  Mother  Osborne,  as  she  was  popularly  called,  went 
to  one  Butterfield,  who  kept  a  dairy  at  Gubblecot,  to  beg  for  some 
buttermilk,  but  he  said  with  great  brutality  that  he  had  not  enough 


the  murder  at  tring.  4ll 

for  his  hogs.  The  old  woman,  provoked  by  this  treatment,  went 
away,  telling  him  that  the  pretender  would  soon  have  him  and 
his  hogs  too.  The  connection  with  what  followed  perhaps  arose 

whhSatan0Psar  T"7  fwhlch  liad  long  coupled  the  pretender 
th  Satan.  Some  time  afterward,  some  of  Butterfield’s  calves  be- 

wbnei  ’  and  the  1Snorant  PeoPIe  of  the  neighborhood 

had  heard  the  story  of  the  buttermilk,  declared  that  they  were 
bewitched  by  Mother  Osborne.  In  course  of  time  Butterfield  left 

,1S  dd'ily’,aild  t0ok  a  PubPc-house  in  the  same  village,  where 
about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1751,  he  was  troubled  with  fits’ 
and,  although  he  had  been  subject  to  similar  fits  in  former  times’ 
these  also  were  now  ascribed  to  Mother  Osborne.  He  was  ner- 
suaded  that  the  doctors  could  do  him  no  good,  and  was  advfsed 
to  send  for  an  old  woman  out  of  Northamptonshire,  a  white  witch 
who  had  the  reputation  of  being  skilful  in  counteracting  the  effects’ 

1  sorcery.  Phis  woman  confirmed  the  opinion  already  afloat 
o  the  cause  of  Butterfield’s  disorder,  and  she  directed  that  six 

forks Sand  dotTatCh  ^  We  a“d  niSht>  with  staves>  pitch- 
vs  and  other  weapons,  at  the  same  time  hanging  something 

necks>  /hiqh  she  said  was  a  charm  to  secure  them 

from  being  bewitched  themselves.  This  produced,  as  might  be 

expected,  no  effect,  and  the  accusation  might  have  dropped^  but 

some  persons,  desirous  of  collecting  together  a  large  number  of 

erd  nfSflWlth  a  lucratlve  obJect>  caused  notice  to  be  given  at  sev¬ 
eral  of  the  market-towns  around  that  witches  were  to  be  tried  bv 

ducking  at  Longmarston,  on  the  22d  of  April.  The  consequence 
was  that  a  vast  concourse  of  people  assembled  at  Trirm  on  the 
day  announced  The  parish  officers  had  removed  the  ofd  couple 
rom  the  workhouse  into  the  church,  for  security;  upon  which 
the  mob,  after  searching  in  vain  the  workhouse,  and  even  look¬ 
ing  into  the  salt-box  to  see  if  the  witch  had  transformed  herself 
into  any  diminutive  form  that  could  be  concealed  there,  exhibited 
their  disappointment  in  breaking  the  windows,  pulling  down  the 
pales,  and  demolishing  a  part  of  the  house.  'They  then  seized 
upon  the  governor,  and  collecting  together  a  quantity  of  straw 
threatened  to  drown  him  and  set  fire  to  the  town,  unless  the  un- 
loitunate  couple  were  delivered  up  to  them.  Fear  at  length  in¬ 
duced  the  parish  officers  to  yield,  and  the  two  wretches^  were 
stripped  stark  naked  by  the  mob,  their  thumbs  tied  to  their  toes 
and  thus  each  wrapped  in  a  loose  sheet,  they  were  dragged  two 
miles  and  thrown  into  a  muddy  stream.  A  chimney-sweeper 
named  Colley,  one  of  the  ringleaders,  seeing  that  the  poor  wo¬ 
man  did  not  sink,  went  into  the  pond  and  turned  her  over  sev- 


412 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


era!  times  with  a  stick,  by  which  her  body  slipped  out  of  the 
sheet  and  was  exposed  naked.  In  this  condition,  and  half  choked 
with  mud,  she  was  thrown  on  the  bank,  and  there  kicked  and 
beaten  till  she  expired.  Her  husband  died  also  of  the  injuries 
he  had  received.  The  man  who  had  superintended  these  brutal 
proceedings  went  round  to  the  crowd  collecting  money  for  the 
amusement  he  had  afforded  them  !  The  coroner’s  inquest  brought 
a  verdict  of  wilful  murder  against  several  persons  by  name,  but 
the. only  one  brought  to  justice  was  the  sweep  Colley,  who  was 
executed,  and  afterward  hung  in  chains,  for  the  murder  of  Ruth 
Osborne. 

From  this  time  witchcraft  has  attracted  no  attention  in  Eng¬ 
land,  except  as  a  vulgar  superstition  in  some  rude  localities  where 
the  schoolmaster  had  not  yet  penetrated.  In  Scotland  the  strug¬ 
gle  between  superstition  and  common  sense  continued  longer  and 
more  obstinate.  A  few  of  the  later  cases  of  Scottish  sorcery 
were  collected  by  George  Sinclair,  in  a  little  book  published  in 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  under  the  title  of  “  Satan’s  In¬ 
visible  World  Discovered  ”  One  or  two  of  these  will  serve  to 
show  the  form  which  witchcraft  assumed  in  Scotland  at  the  time 
when  it.  was  falling  into  discredit  among  men  of  education. 

There  was  a  man  named  Sandie  Hunter,  who  called  himself 
Sandie  Hamilton,  but  was  better  known  by  the  nickname  of  Hat- 
taraick,  given  him,  it  seems,  by  the  devil.  He  was  first  a  “  nolt- 
herd”  in  East  Lothian,  but  he  had  assumed  the  character  of  a 
conjurer,  curing  men  and  beasts  by  spells  and  charms.  “  His 
charms  sometimes  succeeded,  sometimes  not.”  However,  the 
extent  of  Hattaraiek’s  practices  seems  to  have  raised  the  jeal¬ 
ousy  of  Satan.  “  On  a  day  herding  his  kine  upon  a  hill-side  in 
the  summer-time,  the  devil  came  to  him  in  the  form  of  a  mede- 
ciner,  and  said,  ‘  Sandie,  you  have  too  long  followed  my  trade, 
and  never  acknowledged  me  for  your  master  ;  you  must  now  take 
with  me,  and  be  my  servant,  and  I  will  make  you  more  perfect 
in  your  calling.’  Whereupon  the  man  gave  up  himself  to  the 
devil,  and  received  his  mark,  with  this  new  name.  After  this  he 
grew  very  famous  through  the  country,  for  his  charming,  and 
curing  of  diseases  in  men  and  beasts,  and  turned  a  vagrant  fel¬ 
low,  like  a  jockey,  gaining  meal,  and  flesh,  and  money,  by  his 
charms  ;  such  was  the  ignorance  of  many  at  the  time,  whatever 
house  he  came  to,  none  durst  refuse  Hattaraick  an  alms,  rather 
for  his  ill  than  his  good.  One  day  he  came  to  the  yait  (gate) 
of  Samuelston,  when  some  friends  after  dinner  were  going  to 
horse,  a  young  gentleman,  brother  to  the  lady,  seeing  him, 


SANDIE  HUNTER. 


413 


switched  him  about  the  ears,  saying.  ‘You  warlock  cairle,  what 
have  you  to  do  here  ?  W  hereupon  the  fellow  goes  away  grum¬ 
bling,  and  was  overheard  say,  ‘  You  shall  dear  buy  this  ere&it  be 
long.  This  was  damnum  minatum .  The  young  gentleman  con- 
\ejed  his  friends  a  way  off,  and  came  home  that  way  again, 
where  he  supped.  After  supper,  taking  his  horse,  and  crossing 
Tyne  water,  to  go  home,  he  rode  through  a  shady  piece  of  haugh, 
commonly  called  Cotters,  and  the  evening  being  somewhat  dark’ 
he  met  with  some  persons  there  that  begat  a  dreadful  consterna¬ 
tion  in  him,  which,  for  the  most  part,  he  would  never  reveal. 
Plus  was  malum  secutum.  When  he  came  home,  the  servants 
observed  terror  and  fear  in  his  countenance.  The  next  day  he 
became  distracted,  and  was  bound  for  several  days.  His  sister, 
the  lady  Samuelston,  hearing  of  it,  was  heard  say,  ‘  Surely  that 
knave  Hattaraick  is  the  cause  of  his  trouble,  call  for  him  in  all 
haste.’  When  he  had  come  to  her,  ‘  Sandie,’  said  she,  ‘  what  is 
this  you  have  done  to  my  brother  William?’ — ‘  I  told  him,’  says 
he,  ‘  I  should  make  him  repent  his  striking  of  me  at  the  yait  late¬ 
ly.’  She  giving  the  rogue  fair  words,  and  promising  him  his 
pock  lull  of  meal,  with  beef  and  cheese,  persuaded  the  fellow  to 
cure  him  again.  He  undertook  the  business,  ‘  but  I  must  first,’ 
says  he,  ‘  have  one  of  his  sarks  ;’  which  was  soon  gotten.  What 
pranks  he  played  with  it  can  not  be  known  ;  but  within  a  short 
while  the  gentleman  recovered  his  health.  When  Hattaraick 
came  to  receive  his  wages,  he  told  the  lady,  ‘  Your  brother  Wil¬ 
liam  shall  quickly  go  off  the  country,  but  shall  never  return.’ 
She  knowing  the  fellow’s  prophesies  to  hold  true,  caused  her 
brother  to  make  a  disposition  to  her  of  all  his  patrimony,  to  the 
detrauding  of  his  younger  brother,  George.  After  that  this  war- 
lock  had  abused  the  country  for  a  long  time,  he  was,  at  last  ap¬ 
prehended  at  Dunbar,  and  brought  into  Edinburgh,  and  burnt  up¬ 
on  the  castle  hill.”  1 

Another  extraordinary  case  occurred  about  the  end  of  August, 
1696.  One  Christian  Shaw,  the  daughter  of  John  Shaw,  of  Bar- 
garran,  in  the  shire  of  Renfrew,  about  eleven  years  of  age,  per¬ 
ceiving  one  of  the  maids  of  the  house,  named  Catharine  Camp¬ 
bell,  to  steal  and  drink  some  milk,  she  told  her  mother  of  it. 
Y  hereupon  the  maid,  “  being  of  a  proud  and  revengeful  humor, 
and  a  great  curser  and  swearer,  did,  in  a  great  rage,  thrice  im¬ 
precate  the  curse  of  God  upon  the  child,  and  utter  these  words, 
the  devil  harle  your  soul  through  hell !’  On  Friday  following,  one 
Agnes  Nasmith  came  to  Bargarran’s  house  where  she  asked  the 
said  Christian  how  the  lady  and  young  child  were,  and  how  old 

35* 


414 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


the  young  child  was.  To  which  Christian  replied,  ‘What  do  I 
know  V  Then  Agnes  asked,  how  herself  did,  and  how  old  she 
,was.  To  which  she  answered  that  she  was  well,  and  in  the 
eleventh  year  of  her  age.  On  Saturday  night  thereafter,  the  child 
went  to  bed  in  good  health ;  but  so  soon  as  she  was  asleep,  she 
began  to  cry,  ‘  Help,  help and  did  fly  over  the  resting-bed 
where  she  was  lying,  with  such  violence,  that  her  brains  had 
been  .dashed  out,  if  a  woman  had  not  broken  the  force  of  the 
child’s  motion,  and  remained  as  if  she  had  been  dead,  for  the 
space  of  half  an  hour.  After  this  she  was  troubled  with  sore 
pains,  except  in  some  short  intervals,  and  when  any  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  present  touched  any  part  of  her  body,  she  did  cry  and  screech 
with  such  vehemence,  as  if  they  had  been  killing  her,  but  would 
not  speak.  Some  days  thereafter  she  fell  a  crying  that  Catha¬ 
rine  Campbell  and  Agnes  Nasmith  were  cutting  her  side  and 
other  parts  of  her  body.  In  this  condition  she  continued  a  month, 
with  some  variation,  both  as  to  the  fits  and  intervals.  She  did 
thrust  out  of  her  mouth  parcels  of  hair,  some  curled,  some  plait¬ 
ed,  some  knotted,  of  different  colors,  and  in  large  quantities,  and 
likewise  coal  cinders,  which  were  so  hot  that  they  could  scarce¬ 
ly  be  handled.  One  of  which  Dr.  Brisbane,  being  by  her  when 
she  took  it  out  of  her  mouth,  felt  it  to  be  hotter  than  any  one’s 
body  could  make  it.  The  girl  continued  a  long  time  in  this  con¬ 
dition,  till  the  government  began  to  take  notice  of  it,  and  gave 
commission  to  some  honorable  gentlemen  for  the  trials  of  those 
two,  and  several  others  concerned  in  these  practices;  and  being 
brought  before  the  judges,  two  of  their  accomplices  confessed  the 
crime  ;  whereupon  they  were  condemned  and  executed.” 

Somewhere  about  the  same  time  an  equally  strange  affair  oc¬ 
curred  at  the  town  of  Pittenweem,  in  Fife,  which  may  also  be 
told  in  the  words  of  Sinclair.  “  Peter  Morton,  a  smith  at  Pit¬ 
tenweem,  being  desired  by  one  Beatie  Laing  to  do  some  work 
for  her,  which  he  refused,  excusing  himself  in  respect  he  had 
been  pre-engaged  to  serve  a  ship  with  nails,  within  a  certain 
time  ;  so  that  till  he  had  finished  that  work,  he  could  not  engage 
in  any  other;  that  notwithstanding  the  said  Beatie  Laing  de¬ 
clared  herself  dissatisfied,  and  vowed  revenge.  The  said  Peter 
Morton  afterward  being  indisposed,  coming  by  the  door,  saw  a 
small  vessel  full  of  water,  and  a  coal  of  fire  ‘  slockened’  in  the 
water;  so  perceiving  an  alteration  in  his  health,  and  remember¬ 
ing  Beatie  Laing’s  threatenings,  he  presently  suspects  devilry  in 
the  matter,  and  quarels  the  thing.  Thereafter,  finding  his  indis¬ 
position  growing  worse  and  worse,  being  tormented  and  pricked 


BEATIE  LAING. 


415 


as  with  bodkins  and  pins,  he  openly  lays  the  blame  upon  witch¬ 
craft,  and  accused  Beatie  Laing.  He  continued  to  be  tormented, 
and  she  was,  by  warrant,  apprehended,  with  others  in  Pitten- 
weem.  No  natural  reason  could  be  given  for  his  distemper,  his 
face  and  neck  being  dreadfully  distorted,  his  back  prodigiously 
rising  and  falling,  his  belly  swelling  and  falling  on  a  sudden,  his 
joints  pliable,  and  constantly  so  still'  as  no  human  power  could 
bow  them.  Beatie  Laing  and  her  hellish  companions  being  in 
custody,  were  brought  to  the  room  where  he  was,  and  his  face 
covered,  he  told  his  tormenters  were  in  the  room,  naming  them. 
And  though  formerly  no  confession  had  been  made,  Beatie  Laing 
confessed  her  crime,  and  accused  several  others  as  accessories-! 
The  said  Beatie  having  confessed  her  compact  with  the  devil, 
and  using  of  spells,  and  particularly  her  ‘  sleekening’  the  coal  in 
water,  she  named  her  associates  in  revenge  against  Peter  Mor¬ 
ton,  viz,,  Janet  Cornfoot,  Lillie  Wallace,  and  Lawson,  who  had 
framed  a  picture  of  wax,  and  every  one  of  the  forenamed  persons 
having  put  their  pin  in  the  picture  for  torture.  They  could  not 
tell  what  had  become  of  the  image,  but  thought  the  devil  had 
stolen  it,  whom  they  had  seen  in  the  prison.  Beatie  Laing  like¬ 
wise  said,  that  one  Isobel  Adams,  a  young  lass,  was  also  in  com¬ 
pact  with  the  devil.  This  woman  was  desired  to  see  with  Beatie, 
which  she  refused;  and  Beatie  let  her  see  a  man  at  the-other 
end  of  the  table,  who  appeared  as  a  gentleman,  and  promised  her 
all  prosperity  in  the  world  ;  she  promised  her  service  to  him,  and 
he  put  his  mark  on  her  flesh,  which  was  very  painful.  She  was 
shortly  after  ordered  to  attend  the  company,  to  go  to  one  Mac- 
Grigor’s  house,  to  murder  him  ;  he  awaking  when  they  were 
there,  and  recommending  himself  to  God,  they  were  forced  to 
"withdraw.  This  Isobel  Adams  appeared  ingenuous,  and  very 
penitent  in  her  confessions;  she  said,  he  who  forgave  Manas- 
seh’s  witchcrafts  might  forgive  hers  also;  and  died  very  peni¬ 
tent,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  many.  This  Beatie  Laing  was 
suspected  by  her  husband,  long  before  she  was  laid  in  prison  by 
warrant  of  the  magistrates.  The  occasion  was  thus  :  she  said, 
that  she  had  packs  of  very  good  wool,  which  she  instantly  sold, 
and  coming  home  with  a  black  horse  which  she.had  with  .her’ 
they  di inking  till  it  was  late  in  the  night  ere  they  came  home, 
that  man  said,  ‘  What  shall  I  do  with  the  horse  V  She  replied, 
Cast  the  bridle  on  his  neck,  and  you  will  be  quit  of  him  ;’  and, 
as  her  husband  thought,  the  horse  flew  with  a  great  noise  away 
in  the  air.  T  hey  were,  by  a  complaint  to  the  privy  council,  pros¬ 
ecuted  by  her  majesty’s  advocate,  in  1704,  but  all  set  at  liberty 


416 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


save  one  who  died  in  Pittenweem.  Beatie  Laing  died  unde- 
sired,  in  her  bed,  in  St.  Andrews  ;  all  the  rest  died  miserable  and 
violent  deaths.” 

So  says  Mr.  George  Sinclair,  who  has,  however,  omitted  to 
inform  us  of  the  most  frightful  part  of  this  story.  Janet  Corn- 
foot,  one  of  the  persons  accused,  made  her  escape  from  prison, 
but  she  was  recaptured,  and  brought  back  to  Pittenweem,  where, 
falling  into  the  hands  of  a  ferocious  mob,  they  pelted  her  with 
stones,  swung  her  on  a  rope  extended  from  a  ship  to  the  shore, 
and  at  length  put  an  end  to  her  sufferings  by  throwing  a  door 
over  her  as  she  lay  exhausted  on  the  beach,  and  heaping  stones 
on  it  till  she  was  pressed  to  death.  This  was  the  woman  who, 
according  to  Sinclair,  “  died  in  Pittenweem.”  The  magistrates 
had  made  no  attempt  to  rescue  the  miserable  woman  from  the 
hands  of  her  tormentors,  and  they  were  now  violently  attacked 
in  print  for  their  conduct,  and  were  as  warmly  defended  by  some 
advocates.  The  agitation  on  the  subject  of  the  union  with  Eng¬ 
land  contributed  to  the  impunity  with  which  the  murderers  es¬ 
caped.  But  the  controversy  it  occasioned,  joined  with  the  hor¬ 
ror  which  such  a  barbarous  outrage  excited,  tended  more  than 
anything  else  to  open  people’s  eyes  in  Scotland  to  the  absurdity 
and  wickedness  of  the  prosecutions  for  witchcraft.  Il  required, 
however,  a  few  more  instances,  remarkable  chiefly  for  their  ab¬ 
surdity,  to  bring  them  entirely  into  discredit.  In  1718,  a  carpenter 
in  the  shire  of  Caithness,  named  William  Montgomery,  was  infested 
at  night  Avith  cats,  which,  according  to  the  evidence  of  his  ser¬ 
vant-maid,  “  spoke  among  themselves,”  and  in  a  violent  attack 
upon  them  with  every  weapon  within  his  reach,  he  inflicted  per¬ 
sonal  injury  to  a  very  considerable  extent.  Two  women  were 
believed  to  have  died  in  consequence  ol  these  injuries,  and  a 
third,  in  a  weak  state,  was  imprisoned  and  compelled  to  confess 
not  only  that  she  was  one  of  the  offending  cats,  but  to  declare 
against  a  number  of  her  confederates  in  witchcraft.  A  cen¬ 
tury  earlier,  no  doubt  this  confession  would  have  been  fatal  to 
most  of  the  old  women  in  the  neighborhood  ;  but  times  were 
changed,  and  the  lord  advocate,  on  being  applied  to,  put  a  stop 
to  ijl  further  proceedings.  In  1720,  some  old  women  of  Calder 
were  imprisoned  for  certain  pretended  sorceries  exercised  on  a 
boy,  the  son  of  James,  Lord  Torpichen,  but  the  officers  of  the 
crown  would  not  proceed  to  a  trial.  Yet  two  years  later,  a  poor 
woman  was  burnt  as  a  Avitch  in  the  county  of  Sutherland,  by  or¬ 
der  of  the  sheriff,  Captain  David  Ross,  of  Littledean.  This  was 


417 


WITCHCRAFT  IN  THE  ISLAND  MAGEE. 

the  last  sentence  of  death  for  witchcraft  that  was  ever  passed 
in  Scotland.  1 

It  appears  that  in  Ireland  the  law  against  witchcraft  has  never 
been  repealed,  a  circumstance  that  can  only  be  explained  on  the 
supposition  that  since  witchcraft  began  to  fall  into  discredit  it  has 
never,  or  very  rarely,  been  appealed  to.  In  1711,  there  occurred 
a  case  of  witchcraft  among  the  Scottish  presbyterians  of  the 
island  Magee,  in  Ulster,  which  excited  so  much  interest,  at  least 
among  the  people  of  that  persuasion,  that  it  has  been  printed  over 
and  over  again,  the  edition  I  have  before  me  bearing  date  in  1822 
upward  of  one  hundred  years  after  that  of  the  event  it  commem¬ 
orates.  There  is  something  peculiarly  Irish  in  the  story — it  is  a 
house,  or  rather  a  family,  haunted  by  a  spirit  sent  by  witches. 
Mrs.  Anne  Hattridge  was  the  widow  of  the  presbyterian  minis¬ 
ter  ol  the  district  just  mentioned,  and  was  living  with  her  son, 
James  Hattridge.  At  the  beginning  of  September,  1710,  the 
house  began  to  be  disturbed  by  an  invisible  visiter,  who  threw 
stones  and  turf  about,  pulled  the  pillows  and  bed-clothes  off  the 
bed,  and  played  a  variety  of  other  disagreeable  pranks.  Once 
it.  appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  cat,  which  they  killed  and  threw 
into  the  yard,  but  when  they  looked  for  the  ‘  body  it  had  disap¬ 
peared.  “  There  was  little  remarkable  for  several  days  after, 
unless  it  were  that  her  cane  would  be  taken  away,  and  be  mis¬ 
sing  several  days  together;  until  the  11th  of  December,  1710, 
when  the  aforesaid  Mrs.  Hattridge  was  sitting  at  the  kitchen  fire’ 
in  the  evening  before  daylight-going,  a  little  boy  (as  she  and  the 
servants  supposed)  came  in  and  sat  down  beside  her,  having  an 
o  d  black  bonnet  on  his  head,  with  short  black  hair,  a  half-worn 
blanket  about  him,  trailing  on  the  ground  behind  him,  and  a  torn 
n  ick  vest  under  it.  He  seemed  to  be  about  ten  or  twelve  years 
old,  but  he  still  covered  his  face,  holding  his  arm  with  a  piece 
of  the  blanket  before  it.  She  desired  to  see  his  face  but  he  took  no 
notice  of  ber.  1  hen  she  asked  him  several  questions  ;  viz.,  if 
he  was  cold  or  hungry  ;  if  he  would  have  any  meat ;  where  he 
came  from,  arid  whither  he  was  going.  To  which  he  made  no* 
answer,  but  getting  up,  danced  very  nimbly,  leaping  higher  than 
usual,  and  then  ran  out  of  the  house  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  gar¬ 
den,  and  sometimes  into  the  cow-house,  the  servants  running  af¬ 
ter  him  to  see  where  he  would  go,  but  soon  lost  sight  of  him  ; 
but  when  they  returned,  he  would  be  close  after  them  in  the 
house,  which  he  did  above  a  dozen  times.  At.  last,  the  little  girl 
seeing  her  master’s  dog  coming  in,  said,  ‘  Now  my  master  is  com- 
ing,  he  will  take  a  course  with  this  troublesome  creature upon 


418 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


which  he  immediately  went  away,  and  troubled  them  no  more 
till  the  month  of  February,  1711.” 

On  the  11th  of  February,  a  volume  of  sermons  that  Mrs.  Hat- 
ridge  was  reading,  suddenly  disappeared  in  an  unaccountable 
manner.  “  Next  day,  the  apparition  formerly  mentioned,  came 
to  the  house,  and  after  having  broken  a  quarry  of  glass  in  the 
kitchen  window,  on  the  side  of  the  house,  next  the  garden,  he 
thrust  in  his  arm  with  the  book  in  his  hand  open,  and  entered 
into  a  conference  with  a  girl  of  the  house,  called  Margaret  Spear, 
the  particulars  of  which  are  as  follows  : — ■ 

“  Apparition.  Do  you  want  a  book  ? 

“  Girl.  No. 

“  Appar.  How  come  you  to  lie  ?  for  this  is  the  book  which  the 
old  gentlewoman  wanted  (lost)  yesterday. 

“  Girl.  How  came  you  by  it  ? 

“  Appar.  I  went  down  quietly  to  the  parlor,  when  you  were 
all  in  the  kitchen,  and  found  it  lying  upon  a  shelf,  with  a  bible 
and  a  pair  of  spectacles. 

“  Girl.  Flow  came  it  that  you  did  not  take  the  Bible  too  ? 

“  Appar.  It  was  too  heavy  to  carry. 

“  Girl.  Will  you  give  it  back  ?  for  my  mistress  can’t  want  it 
any  longer. 

“  Appar.  No,  she  shall  never  get  it  again. 

“  Girl.  Can  you  read  on  it  ? 

11  Appar.  Yes. 

“  Girl.  Who  taught  you  ? 

“  Appar.  The  devil  taught  me. 

“  Girl.  The  Lord  bless  me  from  thee  !  thou  hast  got  ill  lear 
( learning J. 

“  Appar.  Ay,  bless  yourself  twenty  times,  but  that  shall  not 
save  you. 

Girl.  What  will  you  do  to  us  ?  (Mr.  Hattridge’s  son,  about 
eight  years  of  age,  was  with  her  at  the  time.) 

“  Upon  which  it  pulled  out  a  sword  and  thrust  it  in  at  the  win¬ 
dow,  and  said  it  would  kill  all  in  the  house  with  that  sword ;  at 
which  the  child  said,  ‘  Meg,  let  us  go  into  the  room  and  bar  the 
door,  for  fear  it  should  kill  us,’  which  they  did  ;  then  it  jeered 
them,  saying,  ‘  Now  you  think  you  are  safe  enough,  but  I’ll  get 
in  yet.’ 

“  What  way?  for  we  have  the  street-door  shut. 

“  Appar.  I  can  come  in  by  the  least  hole  in  the  house,  like  a 
cat  or  mouse,  for  the  devil  can  make  me  anything  I  please. 


THE  TROUBLESOME  VISITER. 


419 


“  Girl.  God  bless  me  from  thee,  for  thou  art  no  earthly  crea¬ 
ture  if  you  can  do  that.  J 

11  Up°n  which  it  took  up  a  stone  of  considerable  bigness  and 
threw  it  m  at  the  parlor-window,  which  upon  trial  could  not  be 
put  out.  at  the  same  place,  and  then  went  away  for  a  little  time 
A  little  after,  the  girl  and  one  of  the  children  came  out  of  the 
parlor  to  the  kitchen,  and  looking  out  of  the  window,  saw  the 
apparition  catching  a  turkey-cock,  which  he  threw  over  his  shaul 
der,  holding  him  by  the  tail ;  and  the  cock  making  a  great  splut¬ 
ter  with  his  feet,  the  book  before  mentioned  was,  as  they  thought 
spurred  out  of  the  loop  of  the  blanket  he  had  about  him  •  but  he’ 
taking  no  notice,  run  along  the  side  of  the  house,  and  leaped’ 
with  the  cock  on  his  back,  over  a  wall  at  the  west  end  of  the 
garden,  leaping  a  great  deal  higher  than  the  wall.  The  oirl 
thinking  this  a  good  opportunity  to  get  the  book,  told  Mrs  Hat’ 
tndge ;  upon  which  she,  with  the  girl  and  a  little  boy,  went 'to  the 
garden,  and  got  the  book,  without  any  harm  done  to  it  At  the 
same  time  they  looked  about  the  garden  and  fields  adjoining  but 
could  see  nobody.  There  was  no  other  person  about  the  house 
at  that  time  except  children.  A  little  after,  the  girl  went  to  the 
window  in  the  parlor,  and  looking  out  of  the  casement,  saw  the 
apparition  again,  with  the  turkey-cock  lying  on  its  back  before 
him,  he  endeavoring  to  get  his  sword  drawn  to  kill  it,  as  she  ap¬ 
prehended,  but  the  cock  got  away.  It  then  looked  for  the  book 
in  the  loop  of  the  blanket,  and  missing  it,  as  she  apprehended, 
threw  away  the  blanket,  and  ran  nimbly  up  and  down  upon  the 
search  for  it.  A  little  after,  it  came  back  with  a  club,  and  broke 
the  glass  of  the  side  window  in  the  parlor,  and  then  went  to  the 
end  window,  through  which  the  girl  was  looking,  and  pulled  off 
the  casement  glass  (not  leaving  one  whole  quarry  in  it),  and  left 
E  lying  on  the  south  side  of  the  garden.  A  little  after,  the  girl 
ventured  to  look  out  of  the  broken  window,  and  saw  it  as  it  were 
digging  near  the  end  of  the  house  with  the  sword.  She  asked 
what  he  was  doing  ?  He  answered,  ‘  Makiny  a  grave  ’ 

“  Girl.  For  whom  ? 

Appai .  I  or  a  corpse  which  will  come  out  of  this  house  very 
soon.  J 

“  Girl.  Who  will  it  be  ? 

“  Appar.  I  ’ll  not  tell  you  that  yet.  Is  your  master  at  home  ? 

“  Girl.  Yes. 

“  Appar.  How  can  you  lie  ?  he  is  abroad,  and  is  dead  fourteen 
days  ago. 

“  Girl.  Of  what  sickness  did  he  die  ? 


420 


SORCERY  AND  MAGIC. 


“  Appar.  I  ’ll  not  tell  you  that. 

“  After  this  it  went  over  the  hedge,  as  if  it  had  been  a  bird 
flying.  Some  persons  of  the  neighborhood  came  in  immediately 
after,  and  being  told,  made  a  diligent  search,  but  nothing  could 
be  seen.  Thus  it  continued  from  eight  in  the  morning  till  two 
or  three  in  the  afternoon,  throwing  a  great  many  stones,  turf,  etc., 
in  at  the  windows,  to  the  great  terror  of  those  in  the  house.” 

Not  long  after  this  old  Mrs.  Hattridge  was  taken  ill,  and 
died.  But  the  spirit  still  haunted  the  house,  and  tormented  a 
young  lady,  a  relative  of  the  family,  who  had  come  to  live  there. 
Mary  Dunbar,  for  this  was  her  name,  was  seized  with  a  strange 
disease  on  the  28th  of  February,  accompanied  with  fits,  in  the 
course  of  which  she  had  the  spectral  vision,  as  it  was  called,  of 
certain  women  of  the  neighborhood,  who  she  said,  had  sent 
thither  the  tormenting  spirit.  All  the  other  symptoms  usually 
exhibited  by  persons  bewitched  followed  in  due  course,  and  sev¬ 
eral  persons  whom  she  accused  in  her  trances  were  taken  into 
custody  and  imprisoned  at  Carrickfergus  to  await  their  trial. 
The  jury  brought  them  in  guilty,  but  they  appear  not  to  have 
been  executed. 

From  this  time,  in  Europe  at  least,  sorcery  and  magic  hold  no 
longer  a  place  in  the  history  of  mankind.  The  magician  disap¬ 
peared  more  rapidly  than  the  witch,  because  he  belonged  to  the 
class  of  society  in  which  the  progress  of  intelligence  was  more 
decided  ;  but  we  have  seen  that,  as  the  agitation  which  brought 
it  into  importance  subsided,  and  it  could  no  longer  be  made  a 
useful  instrument  in  political  or  religious  warfare,  sorcery  became 
more  trivial  and  ridiculous  in  its  details,  until  it  was  discarded 
even  among  the  vulgar. 


THE  END. 


A  CATALOGUE 


OF 


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For  Schools,  Academies,  and  Self-Instruction 


THE 

AMERICAN  DRAWING-BOOK. 

BY  JOHN  G.  CHAPMAN,  N,  A. 

This  Work  will  be  published  in  Parts  ;  in  the  coarse  of  which — 

PRIMARY  INSTRUCTIONS  AND  RUDIMENTS  OF  DRAWING: 

DRAWING  FROM  NATURE  —  MATERIALS  AND  METHODS: 

PERSPECTIVE  — COMPOSITION  — LANDSCAPE  — FIGURES,  ETC  : 

DRAWING,  AS  APPLICABLE  TO  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS: 

PAINTING  IN  OIL  AND  WATER  COLORS: 

THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  LIGHT  AND  SHADE: 

EXTERNAL  ANATOMY  OF  THE  HUMAN  FORM,  AND  COMPARATIVE 
ANATOMY: 

THE  VARIOUS  METHODS  OF  ETCHING,  ENGRAVING,  MODELLING,  Etc. 

Will  be  severally  treated,  separately ;  so  that,  as  far  as  practicable,  each 
Part  will  be  complete  in  itself,  and  form,  in  the  whole,  “  a  Manual  of 
Information  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  Amateur,  and  Basis 
of  Study  for  the  Professional  Artist,  as  well  as  a  valuable  Assistant 
to  Teachers  in  Public  and  Private  Schools  to  whom  it  is  especially 
recommended,  as  a  work  destined  to  produce  a  revolution  in  the  sys¬ 
tem  of  popular  education,  by  making  the  Arts  of  Design  accessible 
and  familiar  to  all,  from  the  concise  and  intelligible  manner  in  which 
the  subject  is  treated  throughout. 

The  want  of  such  a  work,  has  been  the  great  cause  of  neglect  in  this 
important  branch  of  education  ;  and  this  want  is  at  once  and  fully  sup¬ 
plied  by  the  — 

AMERICAN  DRAWI  NG- BOOK  : 

upon  which  Mr.  Chapman  has  been  for  years  engaged ;  and  it  is  now 
produced,  without  regard  to  expense,  in  all  its  details,  and  published  at 
a  price  to  place  it  within  the  means  of  every  one. 

The  Work  will  be  published  in  large  quarto  form,  put  up  in  substan¬ 
tial  covers,  and  issued  as  rapidly  as  the  careful  execution  of  the  numer¬ 
ous  engravings,  and  the  mechanical  perfection  of  the  whole,  will  allow 

!2F“  Any  one  Part  may  be  had  separately 


Price  50  Cents  each  Part. 

f^»  The  DRAWING  COPY-BOOKS,  intended  as  auxiliary 

to  the  Work,  in  assisting  Teachers  to  carry  out  the  system  of  instruction, 
especially  in  the  Primary  and  Elementary  parts,  form  a  new  and  valu¬ 
able  addition  to  the  men  ns  of  instruction.  They  will  be  sold  at  a  cost 
little  beyond  that  of  ordinary  blank-books. 


C  H  A  P  M  AN 


ox 


BEING  PART  III.  OF  THE  AMERICAN  DRAWING-BOOK. 


NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 

“  The  nation  may  well  be  proud  of  this  admirable  work.  In  design  and 
execution,  the  artist  has  been  singularly  felicitous  ;  and  nothing  can  surpass 
the  beauty,  correctness,  and  finish  of  style,  in  which  the  publisher  has  pre¬ 
sented  it  to  his  countrymen.  The  book  is  strictly  what  it  claims  to  be — a 
teacher  ot  the  art  of  Drawing.  The  method  is  so  thorough,  comprehensive, 
and  progressive  ;  its  rules  so  wise,  exact,  and  clearly  laid  down  ;  and  its  classic 
illustrations  are  so  skilfully  adapted  to  train  the  eye  and  hand,  that  no  pupil 
who  faithfully  follows  its  guidance,  can  fail  to  become,  at  least,  a  correct 
draughtsman.  We  have  been  especially  pleased  with  the  treatise  on  Perspec¬ 
tive,  which  entirely  surpasses  anything  that  we  have  ever  met  with  upon 
that  difficult  branch  of  art.” — Spirit  of  the  Age. 

“  Perspective,  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  branches  of  drawing,  and  one  the 
least  susceptible  of  verbal  explanation.  But  so  clearly  are  its  principles  devel¬ 
oped  in  the  beautiful  letter-press,  and  so  exquisitely  are  they  illustrated  by  the 
engravings,  that  the  pupil’s  way  is  opened  most  invitingly  to  a  thorough  knowl¬ 
edge  of  both  the  elements  and  application  of  Perspective.” — Home  Journal. 

“  It  treats  of  Perspective  with  a  masterly  hand.  The  engravings  are  superb, 
and  the  typography  unsurpassed  by  any  book  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
It  is  an  honor  to  the  author  and  publisher,  and  a  credit  to  our  common  coun¬ 
try.” — Scientific  American. 

“  This  number  is  devoted  to  the  explanation  of  Perspective,  and  treats  that 
difficult  subject  with  admirable  clearness,  precision,  and  completeness.  The 
plates  and  letter-press  of  this  work  are  executed  with  uncommon  beauty.  It 
has  received  the  sanction  of  many  of  our  most  eminent  artists,  and  can  scarcely 
be  commended  too  highly.” — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

“  This  present  number  is  dedicated  to  the  subject  of  Perspective — com¬ 
mencing  with  the  elements  of  Geometry — and  is  especially  valuable  to  build¬ 
ers,  carpenters,  and  other  artisans,  being  accompanied  with  beautiful  illustra¬ 
tive  designs  drawn  by  Chapman,  and  further  simplified  by  plain  and  perspic¬ 
uous  directions  for  the  guidance  of  the  student.  Indeed,  the  whole  work, 
from  its  undeviating  simplicity,  exhibits  the  hand  of  a  master.  We  trust  this 
highly  useful  and  elevated  branch  of  art  will  hereafter  become  an  integral  por¬ 
tion  of  public  education,  and  as  it  is  more  easily  attainable,  so  will  it  ultimately 
be  considered  an  indispensable  part  of  elementary  instruction.  Its  cheapness 
is  only  rivalled  by  its  excellence,  and  the  artistic  beauty  of  its  illustrations  is 
only  equalled  by  the  dignified  ease  and  common  sense  exemplified  in  the 
written  directions  that  accompany  each  lesson. — Poughkeepsie  Telegraph." 

“  The  subject  of  Perspective  we  should  think  would  interest  every  mechanic 
in  the  country;  indeed,  after  all,  this  is  the  class  to  be  the  most  benefited  by 
sound  and  thorough  instruction  in  drawing.” — Dispatch. 

“  Permit  me  here  to  say  I  regard  your  Drawing-Book  as  a  treasure.  I  was 
a  farmer-boy,  and  it  was  while  daily  following  the  plough,  that  I  became  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  first  number  of  Chapman’s  Drawing-Book.  I  found  in  it 
Just  what  I  desired — a  plain,  sure  road  to  that  excellence  in  the  Art  ot  Arts,  that 
my  boyish  mind  had  pictured  as  being  so  desirable,  the  first  step  toward  which 
I  had  taken  by  making  rude  sketches  upon  my  painted  ploughbeam,  or  using 
the  barn-door  as  my  easel,  while  with  colored  rotten-stone  I  first  took  .essons 
from  Nature.  I  am  now  at  college.  I  have  a  class  at  drawing,  and  find  in  the 
several  numbers  I  have  obtained,  the  true  road  for  the  teacher  also.” — Extract 
from  a  letter  recently  received. 


THE  WORKS 

OF 

EDGAR  ALLAN  POE: 

WITH  NOTICES  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  GENIUS, 

BY  J.  R.  LOWELL,  N.  P.  WILLIS,  AND  R.  W.  GRISWOLD. 
In  two  Volumes,  12 mo.,  with  a  Poetrait  of  the  Author. 
Price,  Two  Dollars  and  Fifty  Cents. 


NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 

“  The  edition  is  published  for  the  benefit  ol  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Maria 
Clemm,  for  whose  sake  we  may  wish  it  the  fullest  success.  It  however,  de¬ 
serves,  and  will  undoubtedly  obtain,  a  large  circulation  from  the  desire  so  many 
will  feel  to  lay  by  a  memorial  of  this  singularly-gifted  writer  and  unfortunate 
man.” — Philadelphia  North  American. 

“  Poe’s  writings  are  distinguished  for  vigorous  and  minute  analysis,  and 
the  skill  with  which  he  has  employed  the  strange  fascination  of  mystery  and 
terror.  There  is  an  air  of  reality  in  all  his  narrations — a  dwelling  upon  partic¬ 
ulars,  and  a  faculty  of  interesting  you  in  them  such  as  is  possessed  by  few 
writers  except  those  who  are  giving  their  own  individual  experiences.  The 
reader  can  scarcely  divest  his  mind,  even  in  reading  the  most  fanciful  of  his 
stories,  that  the  events  of  it  have  not  actually  occurred,  and  the  characters  had 
a  real  existence.” — Philadelphia  Ledger. 

“We  need  not  say  that  these  volumes  will  be  found  rich  in  intellectual 
excitements,  and  abounding  in  remarkable  specimens  of  vigorous,  beautiful, 
and  highly  suggestive  composition  ;  they  are  all  that  remains  to  us  of  a  man 
whose  uncommon  genius  it  would  be  folly  to  (Jeny.” — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

“Mr.  Poe’s  intellectual  character — his  genius — is  stamped  upon  all  his  produc¬ 
tions,  and  we  shall  place  these  his  works  in  the  library  among  those  books  not 
to  be  parted  with.” — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

“  These  works  have  a  funereal  cast  as  well  in  the  melancholy  portrait  pre¬ 
fixed  and  the  title,  as  in  the  three  pallbearing  editors  who  accompany  them 
in  public.  They  are  the  memorial  of  a  singular  man,  possessed  perhaps  of  as 
great  mere  literary  ingenuity  and  mechanical  dexterity  of  style  and  manage¬ 
ment  as  any  the  country  has  produced.  Some  of  the  tales  in  the  collection 
are  as  complete  and  admirable  as  anything  of  their  kind  in  the  language.” — 
Military  Review. 

“  A  complete  collection  of  the  works  of  one  of  the  most  talented  and  singu¬ 
lar  men  of  the  day.  Mr.  Poe  was  a  genius,  but  an  erratic  one — he  was  a  comet 
or  a  meteor,  not  a  star  or  sun.  His  genius  was  that  almost  contradiction  of 
terms,  an  analytic  genius.  Genius  is  nearly  universally  synthetic — but  Poe  was 
an  exception  to  all  rules.  He  would  build  up  a  poem  as  a  bricklayer  builds  a 
wall ;  or  rather,  he  would  begin  at  the  top  and  build  downward  to  the  base  ; 
and  yet,  into  the  poem  so  manufactured,  he  would  manage  to  breathe  the  breath 
of  life.  And  this  fact  proved  that  it  was  not  all  a  manufacture — that  the  poem 
was  also,  to  a  certain  degree,  a  growth,  a  real  plant,  talcing  root  in  the  mind, 
and  watered  by  the  springs  of  the  soul." — Saturday  Post. 

“  We  have  just  spent  some  delightful  hours  in  looking  over  these  two  vol¬ 
umes,  which  contain  one  of  the  most  pleasing  additions  to  our  literature  with 
which  we  have  met  for  a  long  time.  They  comprise  the  works  of  the  late 
Edgar  A.  Poe — pieces  which  for  years  have  been  going  1  the  rounds  of  the 
press,’  and  are  now  first  collected  when  their  author  is  beyond  the  reach  of 
humar  praise.  We  feel,  however,  that  these  productions  will  live.  'They 
bear  t  ie  stamp  of  true  genius  ;  and  if  their  reputation  begins  with  a  ‘  fit  audi¬ 
ence  Ui  jugh  few,’  the  circle  will  be  constantly  widening,  and  they  will  retain  a 
prominent  place  in  our  literature." — Rev.  Dr.  Kip 


IMIBMBM)9! 


FOUffi  SERIES  01"  TWELVE  BOOKS  EACH, 

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Histnrv^f  Sketch-Book,. or  Useful  Objects  Illustrated 
tlistory  01  Domestic  Animals. 

The  Museum  of  Birds. 

The  Little  Keepsake,  a  Poetic  Gift  for  Children. 

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The  Christmas  Dream  of  Little  Charles. 

1  he  Basket  ol  Strawberries. 

P&  Krtfa*  eEpi™.e « 'uner““  “*»» 

The  Wagon-Boy,  or  Trust  in  Providence. 

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Simple  Poems  for  Infant  Minds 
Little  Poems  for  Little  Children. 

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F-  Fhe  Alphabet  m  Rhyme 

a  Fhe  Arithmeticians. 

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n  mi  6  rn0un?  Arithmetician,  or  the  Reward  of  Perseverance 
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JUST  PUBLISHED, 

THE  LADIES  OF  THE  COVENANT. 


MEMOIRS  OF 

DISTINGUISHED  SCOTTISH  FEMALE  CHARACTERS, 

Embracing  the  Period  of  the  Covenant  and  the  Persecution. 

By  the  REV.  JAMES  ANDERSON. 

In  One  Volume,  12 wo.,  cloth,  Price  $1.25 — extra  gilt,  gilt  edges  $1.75. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

“  It  is  written  with  great  spirit  and  a  hearty  sympathy,  and  abounds  in  incidents  of 
more  than  a  romantic  interest,  while  the  type  of  piety  it  discloses  is  the  noblest  and 
most  elevated.” — IV.  Y.  Evangelist. 

“  Seldom  has  there  been  a  more  interesting  volume  than  this  in  our  hands.  Stories 
of  Scottish  suffering  for  the  faith  have  always  thrilled  us ;  but  here  we  have  the  me¬ 
moirs  of  distinguished  female  characters,  embracing  the  period  of  the  Covenant  and  the 
Persecution,  with  such  tales  of  heroism,  devotion,  trials,  triumphs,  or  deaths,  as  rouse 
subdue,  and  deeply  move  the  heart  of  the  reader.” — N.  Y.  Observer. 

“Many  a  mother  in  Israel  will  have  her  faith  strengthened,  and  her  zeal  awakened, 
and  her  courage  animated  afresh  by  the  example  set  before  her— by  the  cloud  of  wit 
nesses  of  her  own  sex,  who  esteemed  everything — wealth,  honor,  pleasure,  ease,  and 
life  itself — vastly  inferior  to  the  grace  of  the  Gospel ;  and  who  freely  offered  themselves 
and  all  that  they  had,  to  the  sovereign  disposal  of  Him  who  had  called  them  with  an 
holy  calling ;  according  to  his  purpose  and  grace.”—  Richmond,  (Va.)  Watchman  and 
Observer. 

“The  Scotch  will  read  this  book  because  it  commemorates  their  noble  countrywo¬ 
men  ;  Presbyterians  will  like  it,  because  it  records  the  endurance  and  triumphs  of  their 
faith  ;  and  the  ladies  will  read  it,  as  an  interesting  memorial  of-what  their  sex  has  done 
in  trying  times  for  truth  and  liberty.” — Cincinnati  Central  Christian  Herald. 

“It  is  a  record  which,  while  it  confers  honor  on  the  sex,  will  elevate  the  heart,  and 
strengthen  it  to  the  better  performance  of  every  duty.”— Richmond  (Va.)  Religious 
Herald. 

“The  Descendants  of  these  saints  are  among  us,  in  this  Pilgrim  land,  and  we  earn¬ 
estly  commend  this  book  to  their  perusal.”— Plymoth  Old  Colony  Memorial. 

“  There  are  pictures  of  endurance,  trust,  and  devotion,  in  this  volume  of  illustrious 
suffering,  which  are  worthy  of  a  royal  setting.”— Ontario  Repository. 

“  They  abound  with  incidents  and  anecdotes  illustrative  of  the  times  and  we  need 
scarcely  say  are  deeply  interesting  to  all  who  take  an  interest  tn  the  progress  of  Chris¬ 
tianity.” — Boston  Journal. 

“Mr.  Anderson  has  treated  his  subject  ably  ;  and  has  set  forth  in  strong  light  the  en¬ 
during  faith  and  courage  of  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  Covenanters.”— N.  Y.  Albion 

“It  is  a  book  of  great  attractiveness,  having  not  only  the  freshness  of  novelty  but 
every  element  of  historical  interest. — Courier  and  Enquirer. 

“  The  author  is  a  clergyman  of  the  Scottish  kirk,  and  has  executed  his  undertaking 
with  that  spirit  and  fulness  which  might  be  expected  from  one  enjoying  the  best  advan¬ 
tages  for  the  discovery  of  obscure  points  in  the  history  of  Scotland,  and  the  warmest 
sympathy  with  the  heroines  of  his  own  creed  ” — Commercial  Advertiser. 


CloDfrnnok; 

OP., 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  OUR  HOME  IN  THE  WEST. 

By  ALICE  CAREY. 

Illustrated  by  Dakley.  One  vol 12 mo. 

“  We  do  not  hesitate  to  predict  for  these  sketches  a  wide  popularity. 
They  bear  the  true  stamp  of  genius — simple,  natural,  truthful — and  evince 
a  keen  sense  of  the  humor  anil  pathos,  of  the  comedy  and  tragedy,  of  life 
in  the  country.  No  one  who  has  ever  read  it  can  forget  the  sad  and  beau¬ 
tiful  story  of  Mary  Wildermings ;  its  weird  fancy,  tenderness,  and  beauty  ; 
its  touching  description  of  the  emotions  of  a  sick  and  suffering  human  spirit, 
and  its  exquisite  rural  pictures.  The  moral  tone  of  Alice  Carey’s  writings 
is  unobjectionable  always.” — J.  G.  Whittier. 

“  Miss  Carey’s  experience  has  been  in  the  midst  of  rural  occupations.  In 
the  interior  of  Ohio.  Every  word  here  reflects  this  experience,  in  the  rar¬ 
est  shapes,  and  most  exquisite  hues.  The  opinion  now  appears  to  be  com¬ 
monly  entertained,  that  Alice  Carey  is  decidedly  the  first  of  our  female  au¬ 
thors;  an  opinion  which  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  J.  G.  Whittier,  Dr.  Griswold, 
Wm.  D.  Gallagher,  Bayard  Taylor,  with  many  others,  have  on  various 
occasions  endorsed.” — Illustrated  News. 

“If  we  look  at  the  entire  catalogue  of  female  writers  of  prose  fiction  in 
this  country,  we  shall  find  no  one  who  approaches  Alice  Carey  in  the  best 
characteristics  of  genius.  Like  all  genuine  authors  she  has  peculiarities; 
her  hand  is  detected  as  unerringly  as  that  of  Poe  or  Hawthorne ;  as  much 
as  they  she  is  apart  from  others  and  above  others ;  and  her  sketches  of 
country  life  must,  we  think,  be  admitted  to  be  superior  even  to  those  delight¬ 
ful  tales  of  Miss  Mitford,  which,  in  a  similar  line,  are  generally  acknowledged 
to  be  equal  to  anything  done  in  England.” — International  Magazine. 

“  Alice  Carey  has  perhaps  the  strongest  imagination  among  the  women 
of  this  country.  Her  writings  will  live  longer  than  those  of  any  other 
woman  among  us.” — American  Whig  Review. 

“  Alice  Carey  has  a  fine,  rich,  and  purely  original  genius.  Her  country 
stories  are  almost  unequaled.” — Knickerbocker  Magazine. 

“  Miss  Carey’s  sketches  are  remarkably  fresh,  and  exquisite  in  delicacy, 
humor,  and  pathos.  She  is  booked  for  immortality.” — Home  Journal. 

“  The  Times  speaks  of  Alice  Carey  as  standing  at  the  head  of  the  living 
female  writers  of  America.  We  go  even  farther  in  our  favorable  judgment, 
and  express  the  opinion  that  among  those  living  or  dead,  she  has  had  no 
equal  in  this  country  ;  and  we  know  of  few  in  the  annals  of  English  litera¬ 
ture  who  have  exhibited  superior  gifts  of  real  poetic  genius.” — The  ( Portland , 
Me.)  Eclectic. 


MEN  AND  WOMEN 


OF  THE 

EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 

By  ARSENE  HOUSSAYE. 

With  Beautifully-Engraved  Portraits  of  Louis  XV.  and  Made,  de  Pompadour. 
In  Two  Volumes,  12 mo.,  Cloth  —  Price  §2.50. 


DUFRESNY. 

FONTENELLE 

MARIVAUX. 

PIRON. 

THE  ABBE  PREVOST 

GENTIL-BERNARD. 

FLORIAN. 

BOUFFLERS. 

DIDEROT. 

GRETRY. 

RIVEROL. 


CONTENTS, 

LOUIS  XV. 

GREUZE. 

BOUCHER. 

THE  VANLOOS. 

LANTARA. 

WATTEAU. 

LA  MOTTE. 

DEHLE. 

ABBE  TRUBLET. 
BUFFON. 

DORAT. 


CARDINAL  DE  BERNIS. 
CREBILLON  THE  GAY. 
MARIE  ANTOINETTE. 
MADE  DE  POMPADOUR. 
VADE. 

MLLE  CAMARGO. 

MLLE  CLAIRON. 

MAD.  DE  LAPOPELINIERE 
SOPHIE  ARNOULD. 
CREBILLON  THE  TRAGIC. 
MLLE  GUIMARD. 

THREE  PAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  DANCOURT. 

A  PROMENADE  IN  THE  PALAIS-ROYAL. 

LE  CHEVALIER  DE  LA  CLOS. 


“A  series  of  pleasantly  desultory  papers  —  neither  history,  biography* 
criticism,  nor  romance,  but  compounded  of  all  four:  always  lively  and 
graceful,  and  often  sparkling  with  esprit,  that  subtle  essence  which  may  be 
so  much  better  illustrated  than  defined.  M.  Houssaye’s  aim  in  these  sketch¬ 
es —  for  evidently  he  had  an  aim  beyond  the  one  he  alleges  of  pastime  for 
his  leisure  hours  —  seems  to  have  been  to  discourse  of  persons  rather  cele¬ 
brated  than  known,  whose  names  and  works  are  familiar  to  all,  but  with 
whose  characters  and  histories  few  are  much  acquainted.  To  the  mass  of 
readers,  his  book  will  have  the  charm  of  freshness ;  the  student  and  the 
man  of  letters,  who  have  already  drunk  at  the  springs  whence  M.  Houssaye 
has  derived  his  inspiration  and  materials,  will  pardon  any  lack  of  novelty 
for  the  sake  of  the  spirit  and  originality  of  the  treatment.” — Blackwood. 


in  PRESS, 

PHILOSOPHERS  AND  ACTRESSES, 

BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


MISS  CHESEBRO’S  NEW  WORK. 


DREAM-LAND  BY  DAYLIGHT; 

A 

PANORAMA  OF  ROMANCE. 

By  CAROLINE  CHESEBRO. 

Illustrated  by  Daeley.  One  vol 12 mo. 


“  These  simple  and  beautiful  stories  are  all  highly  endued  with  an  exquisite 
perception  of  natural  beauty,  with  which  is  combined  an  appreciative  sense  of  its 
relation  to  the  highest  moral  emotions.” — Albany  State  Register. 

“  There  is  a  fine  vein  of  pure  and  holy  thought  pervading  every  tale  in  the  vol¬ 
ume  ;  and  every  lover  of  the  beautiful  and  true  will  feel  while  perusing  it  that 
he  is  conversing  with  a  kindred  spirit.” — Albany  Evening  Atlas. 

“  The  journey  through  Dream-Land  will  be  found  full  of  pleasure  ;  and  when 
one  returns  from  it,  he  will  have  his  mind  filled  with  good  suggestions  for  practi¬ 
cal  life.” — Rochester  Democrat. 

“  The  anticipations  we  have  had  of  this  promised  book  are  more  than  realized. 
It  is  a  collection  of  beautiful  sketches,  in  which  the  cultivated  imagination  of  the 
authoress  has  interwoven  the  visions  of  Dream-Land  with  the  realities  of  life.” 

Ontario  Messenger. 

“  The  dedication, ’in  its  sweet  and  touching  purity  of  emotion,  is  itself  an  ear¬ 
nest  of  the  many  ‘blessed  household  voices’  that  come  up  from  the  heart’s  clear 
depth,  throughout  the  book.” — Ontario  Repository. 

“  Gladly  do  we  greet  this  floweret  in  the  field  of  our  literature,  for  it  is  fragrant 
with  sweets  and  bright  with  hues  that  mark  it  to  be  of  Heaven’s  own  planting.” 

Courier  and  Enquirer. 

“  There  is  a  depth  of  sentiment  and  feeling  not  ordinarily  met  with,  and  some 
of  the  noblest  faculties  and  affections  of  man’s  nature  are  depicted  and  illustrated 
by  the  skilful  pen  of  the  authoress.” — Churchman. 

“  This  collection  of  stories  fully  sustains  her  previous  reputation,  and  also  gives 
a  brilliant  promise  of  future  eminence  in  this  department  of  literature.” 

Tribune. 

“  We  find  in  this  volume  unmistakeable  evidences  of  originality  of  mind,  an 
almost  superfluous  depth  of  reflection  for  the  department  of  composition  to  which 
it  is  devoted,  a  rare  facility  in  seizing  the  multiform  aspects  of  nature,  and  a  still 
rarer  power  of  giving  them  the  form  and  hue  of  imagination,  without  destroying 
their  identity.” — Harper's  Magazine. 

“  In  all  the  productions  of  Miss  Cliesebro’s  pen  is  evident  a  delicate  perception 
of  the  relation  of  natural  beauty  to  the  moral  emotions,  and  a  deep  love  of  the  true 
and  the  beautiful  in  art  and  nature.” — Day-Book. 


A  NEW  AND  POPULAR  UOLUME. 


TALES  AND  TRADITIONS 

op 

HUNG  A  R  Y. 

BY  THERESA  PULSZKY. 


With  a  Portrait  of  the  Author . 

In  One  Volume,  Cloth— Frice,  One  Dollar. 

The  above  contains,  in  addition  to  the  English  publication,  a  new  Preface,  and 
Tales,  now  first  printed  from  the  manuscript  of  the  Author,  who  has  a  direct  interest  in 
the  publication. 

CONTENTS. 


1.  The  Baron’s  Daughter. 

2.  The  Castle  of  Zipsen. 

3.  Yanoshik,  the  Robber. 

4.  The  Free  Shot. 

'  5.  The  Golden  Cross  of  Korosfo. 

6.  The  Guardians. 

7.  The  Love  of  the  Angels. 

8.  The  Maid  and  the  Genii. 

9.  Ashmodai,  the  Lame  Demon. 

10.  The  Nun  of  Rauchenbach. 


11.  The  Gloister  of  Manastir. 

12.  Pan  Twardowsky. 

13.  The  Poor  Tartar. 

14.  The  Maidens’  Castle. 

15.  The  Hair  of  the  Orphan  Girl, 

16.  The  Rocks  of  Lipnik. 

17.  Jack,  the  Horse-Dealer. 

18.  Klingsohr  of  Hungary. 

19  Yanosh,  the  Hero. 

20.  The  Hungarian  Outlaws. 


NOTICES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PRESS. 

“•  The  old  fairy  lore  of  the  world,  though  as  familiar  to  us  as  our  own  names,  never 
loses  its  charm,  if  it  only  be  told  to  new  tunes — if  Cinderella's  godmother  presents  herself 
to  the  over-worked  and  ill-used  child  in  a  national  costume — if  we  find  ‘  Ogier  the  Vane’ 
sitting,  waiting  for  the  time  when  he  is  to  arise  and  deliver  the  world,  in  some  fresh  sub¬ 
terranean  cavern — if  we  learn  that  there  have  been  other  seekers  for  the  great  carbuncle, 
besides  the  party  in  the  ‘Far  West,’  whose  pilgrimage  was  so  impressively  told  by  Mr. 
Hawthorne ;  and  other  1  free  shots’  besides  the  one  done  into  music  by  Weber  in  his  op¬ 
era.  We  are  as  glad  to  dream  of  finding  the  lost  ‘  Golden  Cross  of  Korosfo’  as  if  we  had 
not  been  already  set  a-yearning  by  Moore  for 

*  The  round  towers  of  other  days,* 

buried  deep  in  the  bosom  of  Lough  Neagh.  But,  in  addition  to  these  universal  stories — 
old  as  time,  and  precious  as  belief — Madame  Pulszky  has  a  special  budget  of  her  own. 
The  legend  of  ‘  The  Castle  of  Zipsen’  is  told  with  racy  humor.  Whimsically  absurd,  too, 
are  the  matrimonial  difficulties  of  Pan  and  Panna  Twardowsky,  as  here  related;  while 
the  fate  of  Vendelin  Drugeth  reveals  how  ‘the  wild  huntsman’  may  be  varied,  so  as  to 
give  that  fine  old  legend  a  more  orthodox  and  edifying  close  than  the  original  version 
possesses.  Most  interesting  of  all  are  ‘  The  Hungarian  Outlaws.’  ” — London  Athenteum. 

“  This  work  claims  more  attention  than  is  ordinarily  given  to  books  of  its  class.  Such 
is  the  fluency  and  correctness — nay,  even  the  nicety  and  felicity  of  style — with  which 
Madame  Pulszky  writes  the  English  language,  that  merely  in  this  respect  the  tales  here 
collected  form  a  curious  study.  But  they  contain  also  highly  suggestive  illustrations  of 
national  literature  and  character.  To  not  a  few  of  the  1  traditions’  of  Hungary  a  living 
force  and  significance  are  still  imparted  by  the  practices  as  well  as  the  belief  of  her  peas¬ 
antry  and  people,  and  none  were  better  qualified  than  the  author  of  this  book  to  give  fa¬ 
miliar  and  pointed  expression  to  these  national  traits . The  pride  and  power  of  the 

lauded  noble,  in  contrast  with  the  more  gaudy  but  loss  real  power  of  the  court — the  con¬ 
tinual  struggle  of  the  classes  in  immediate  proximity  with  the  noble — and  (that  fancy  so 
peculiar  to  rude  ages  in  every  country)  the  calling  in  of  the  common  robber  to  redress 
the  unequal  social  balance — are  among  the  prominent  subjects  of  the  traditions  related  by 
Madame  Pulszky  with  much  beauty  and  vivacity.  The  tale  or  tradition  which  holds  a 
middle  place  between  these  and  the  purely  fantastic,  is  that  which  describes  the  home- 
life  of  the  peasant,  and,  at  the  same  time,  satisfies  the  love  of  distant  adventure,  which  he 
cultivates  as  he  follows  his  plough.” — London  Examiner. 

“  Freshness  of  subject  is  invaluable  in  literature — Hungary  is  still  fresh  ground.  It  has 
been  trodden,  but  it  is  not  yet  a  common  highway.  The  tales  and  legends  are  very  vari¬ 
ous,  from  the  mere  traditional  anecdote  to  the  regular  legend,  and  they  have  the  sort  of 
interest  which  all  national  traditions  excite.” — London  Leader. 


* 


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DATE  DUE 

P 

DEC  2  g 

2015 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

A 


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